Beauty and The Beast
by Kellycat77
Summary: An AU story of the first book. What if the fairies couldn't pay the ransom? What would become of Holly? And what would happen to that cold twelve year old genius? A/H!
1. No Ransom

**Hi! Ok, so to be clear this is a AU of what would happen if the ransom wouldn't have been paid for Holly's release.**

**It does get OOC, and is sort of a parody of a famous movie. Try and guess!**

**Co-authored with: CaptainS10! (She wrote this chapter!)**

"They won't give me the ransom."

Artemis almost dropped the communicator. Instead, he gripped it tighter and cleared his throat. "No ransom, no Captain," he said firmly. "You might as well send the bio-bomb in. I'll be leaving soon, so any last messages you'd like me to pass on to her?"

There was a pause on the other end, then a sharp exhaling of breath. "Tell her..." He heard his voice falter. "Tell her I'm sorry I couldn't do more. I tried. And she was a good officer."

"Very well," the boy murmured. "I'll pass on the message. Until next time, then, Commander."

"Until next time," the elf on the other line echoed. He just had time to realize that there wasn't going to be a next time, since they were going to bio-bomb him, before the line clicked and went dead.

Artemis stood up and walked out to the kitchen, where Butler was waiting.

The manservant immediately noticed the look on his charge's face. "Is something wrong, sir?"

"They aren't going to pay the ransom," he told him, the look on his face very hard-set. "They're coming with the bio-bomb, though."

"Oh. What about the girl in the basement?"

"That's my problem," Artemis admitted.

"Well, I don't really think that we should just leave her, sir. Is there any way, perhaps, that we could let her go?"

"No." His tone of voice put an end to that conversation and line of thinking. "Absolutely not."

"Is there any way we could take her with us?"

"We could, I suppose. If I decided to be nice and let her life. I'm sure we have enough to spare. But there's no guarantee that she would come with us, or even listen to what I was saying to understand the offer."

"Did you ask her?"

"No, but anyways, we know she hates us, so I don't really need to ask her."

"I didn't say ask her that." He turned around and looked at Artemis. "Look, Artemis, if it was your life, wouldn't you want a choice?"

"But, Butler, that's the problem. She doesn't have a choice in that, whether she keeps her life or not. That's not to say that she can't have a choice whether she lives or not," he added before the man in front of him could say anything, "I suppose I will grant her that. I'll go talk to her when I'm done here. But don't you see? Whether she lives or not, she won't really have any life. She won't be able to go back to Haven, or talk to anybody there, or even be in contact with any of her species for that matter. She-"

"Why?"

"I told them I was going to let her die. They won't be able to know that she's still alive, or do you know how many problems it could bring down on us?"

"Okay, okay," he agreed. "But I still think you should give her a choice."

"Fine," the boy huffed. "I'll go right now."

He stood and grabbed a glass from the cabinet, pouring the contents of a dart into it and mixing it with something. Then he left the room, heading en route for the basement.

When Artemis opened the cell door, the elf on the inside was pacing the left wall, agitated. He walked in silently and sat on the little cot in the corner, closing the door behind him, and watched her.

The cot creaked when he sat down, and she jumped, just realizing his presence for the first time. "You," she hissed.

"Yes, me," Artemis agreed. "I have a message from your commander."

Now she was interested, though her tone hadn't lost its sharp edge. "Really?"

"Yes, indeed. I'm supposed to tell you that he's sorry, he tried, and you were a good officer." She stared at him, and he shrugged. "I told him I'd pass it on."

"W-what?" she stuttered. "He-" Then the truth seemed to hit her, hard. All the color drained from her face. "N-no. You've got to be kidding me." For a second she thought she was going to puke.

"I'm not joking, and I rarely kid. They're not going to pay the ransom."

"I got it the first time," she snarled at him. Then all the angry seemed to drain out of her. She slid down the wall, her head falling into her hands. "I can't believe this is happening," she muttered numbly.

He sighed, standing up and walking over to her. She didn't look up when he sat down beside her, but she did flinch slightly when he touched her. "What do you want now?" she asked, never lifting her head. Then in a slightly more shaky voice, she asked, "are you going to kill me now, then?" She finally did lift her head to look at him. "Have I suffered enough now?"

Artemis looked into her eyes, and saw the truth there. The poor elf was scared out of her wits. She was struggling to keep her composure, trying to hold it in. But as much as she didn't want him to see her cry, she was on the brink of breaking down.

"Drink this," the boy said, holding the glass out to her. The side of it brushed across her lower lip, and she recoiled.

"No."

"Yes." She shook her head. "Drink it," he insisted.

"What is it?" she demanded, taking the glass from him and sniffing it gingerly.

"Orange juice, and a little bit of tranquilizer mixed in. Now drink it."

She set the cup down. "No. I don't like juice, and besides, how do I know you're not lying? For all I know, that's poison."

"For all you know, Captain, that's holy water and food coloring. I guess you'll just have to trust me, huh?"

She laughed, though there was a nervous edge to it. "Trust you? For one thing, you're a human. No fairy in their right mind would trust a human, especially not one that kidnaped them! Give me one good reason why-"

"Do you want to live, Holly?" he asked, getting up by her face. She shrank back against the wall, and they were still almost nose to nose.

Shocked into silence by the sudden closeness, she just nodded.

"Well, then. Drink. It. Now," he growled, his voice low and dangerous.

The elf's eyes widened in fear, and she quickly grabbed the cup and downed its contents. "There. Better?"

"A little." He grabbed her arm and pulled her up to her feet. The world was already beginning to swirl to her, and, dizzy, she tripped over her own feet and fell towards him. Not very gently, he pulled her along and guided her over to the cot, and when her legs tapped the metal rim he pushed her down onto it. "When you wake up, wait right there until somebody comes for you," he told her.

The elf barely had the strength left in her body to nod her head before sinking down onto the cot and letting unconsciousness claim her.

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	2. Artemis' Intentions

Holly woke up soon. She didn't know if she was the only one awake yet, but she also didn't want to find out.

Anyway, she couldn't if she wanted to.

Fowl had told her to stay put...stupid magic rule. This was all his fault, everything. He ruined her life. Now the question was: would he kill her?

If he wanted to kill her, he wouldn't have given her the drink, right? Only then that brought up another question: what did he want with her? That cold heartless maniac only wanted the ransom, and he wasn't getting it.

Before she could contemplate the matter further, the door to her cell opened and Artemis stepped in, a dead look on his face.

"Well, your stupid plan worked, Fowl."

"That 'stupid plan' is the only reason you're still alive."

"Rather be dead," she muttered, looking at the concrete floor.

"That can be arranged," he growled.

Holly's head snapped up, her breath quickening. She knew she shouldn't test him, but it was either a prisoner or dead. And the People already thought she was the latter. But before she could say anything that would boil his temper, he cleared his throat.

"As you are here, and still alive at the moment, you will be able to go about the manor as you please. But you will not leave the manor, nor will you go near the doors or windows. You will not try to contact the People, and most importantly you will not destroy anything or harm anyone. Understood?"

Holly nodded. She could feel her magic getting the orders down in her head.

"Good. And so you are aware, if you do find a way to get through your magic and break any of those rules, I will kill you. Or Butler will, for that matter."

Holly nodded, wondering why he was giving her any freedom. Little freedom, but freedom nonetheless.

But before she could think of anything else, Artemis left the cell, slamming the door behind him.

"Hey!" Holly exclaimed, jumping up, pounding her hand on the door fruitlessly.

Artemis was beyond hearing her, he was already up the stairs, heading straight to the kitchen, where he knew Butler was.

"Mother." he stated, once he got there.

The bodyguard looked up at the boy and then at the food he was preparing, "Yes, this is for your mother."

Artemis shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant. She can heal mother."

Butler looked up again. "You think so?"

Artemis scowled at the grammatical errors of that sentence, but continued nonetheless, "yes, it's a psychological wound. If Captain Short-well, ex captain-can use her magic to heal mother, she would be fine the next minute."

"I doubt that Captain Short-Holly-is willingly going to use her magic, and you cannot force her to use it."

Artemis brought his attention to something then. "She won't, most likely, but I can be...persuasive at times."

Butler turned around to see what Artemis was looking at and dropped his jaw. He then got in the middle of Artemis and what the young boy was looking at so contently. The knife block on the counter.

"No, Artemis. I was okay with you you kidnaping her, holding her for ransom, and giving her the choice to live or not. But you WILL NOT torture that elf."

Artemis narrowed his eyes. "And why not? Why shouldn't I? Mother could be back within the hour."

"No, Artemis. Why don't you try to get her to trust you?"

"And why would she have reason to trust me?"

"You did save her life."

"That's not going to count in her mind."

"Then she doesn't, yet. But why don't you you try being nice to her for once?"

"No."

"And why not?"

"Because earning her trust like that could take months!"

"Well, then you better get started, shouldn't you, now go!"

Artemis looked up again, opening his mouth to argue, but then Butler caught his eye and he thought better of it, cause when a Butler got that glint in their eye, then you knew better than to argue.

**Hey you! Reader! Yea I'm talking to you! You want another chapter? Do ya? Huh? Huh? WELL REVIEW! YOU REVIEW, YOUR GETTING CLOSER TO A NEW CHAPTER!**

**Ok, so yea, 10 reviews down! In less than one day! Ok, let's try 15 NEW reviews until next chapter! (25 total)**

**Disclaimer: neither I nor CaptainS10 are Eoin Colfer...Well, not 100 percent sure about her...Nope, we aren't!**


	3. Hospitality

**Ok ok, let's stick with 15...**

Artemis, grumbling incoherently, did as he was told. He made his way back down to the basement reluctantly, fuming the whole way.

When he got to the door, he stopped for a minute and did his best to pull his temper back into check. Maybe if I can just get through one (mostly) nice conversation, Butler will get off my back, he thought.

But any rein he had over his temper was gone when he opened the cell door again.

The little elf was nowhere in sight.

"Captain Short," he growled, his temper heating up again, "hiding from me is not going to do you any good. Get over here, now."

"I'm not hiding," she whispered. "And I'm right here."

He looked down. She was sitting right beside the door, by his feet, curled up in a ball. Her arms were wrapped around her knees, and her face was buried in them.

Seeing her like that, so small and scared looking, made his icy composure crack a little bit.

He scowled a little, fighting the unwelcome sympathy for the elf before him as he asked, "are you alright down there?"

"I'm fine," she said stubbornly. "Why don't you just leave me alone?"

"No."

"Coming down here and harassing me every fifteen minutes is going to get boring, you know."

She never lifted her head to look at him once while she was speaking, and it was starting to bother him. "Look at me, Holly."

She didn't move.

"Now."

"I don't want to."

"I don't care."

She made a low sound, almost like a growl, and raised her head to look at him. "There, are you happy now?"

He said nothing, studying her face in silence for a moment. Her eyes were slightly red-rimmed, as if she'd been crying, and her shoulders were rolled forward. She didn't even really look like the officer he'd met that first night in the field any longer, aside from the uniform. She still had the attitude though, and that was going to be the problem.

"Come with me," he said finally, turning and walking out the door. He left it open behind him for her.

"Why?"

"Do you want to stay in the cell?" he demanded, turning back to face her. She had stopped in the doorway, looking at him hesitantly. She bit her lip and shook her head. "Then come on, before I change my mind."

She still hesitated slightly, but eventually nodded and followed him out, as he knew she would. Not that she really had a choice in the matter anyways.

He led her up a few staircases, and down too many hallways for her to count before finally stopping in front of one door. He opened it silently and gestured for her to go in.

She stepped forward hesitantly, looking in for a moment before stepping forward over the threshold.

Artemis rolled his eyes; this was taking to long for his liking. He put his hand on the small of her back and pushed her completely into the room.

"Go on," he muttered. "Nothing in there is going to jump out and bite you."

She nodded, but on the inside she was thinking, well, that's not what I'm worried about anyways, so I don't really care. But she didn't say that out loud.

"Why did you bring me up here?"

He snorted. "Isn't it obvious? Since you're probably going to be staying here permanently, and I figure you don't want to stay in the basement forever, I brought you up here. I'm sure its more comfortable."

"I'd almost rather be uncomfortable than have to accept any of your hospitality," she muttered, realizing a second too late that she probably shouldn't have voiced those thoughts aloud.

Artemis's eyes narrowed, and he fixed her with one of his signature glares that had Holly thinking how true the phrase 'if looks could kill' was.

"Fine, then," he spat. "You can go back to the basement right now and hide down there until you rot for all I care. If I had my way, you probably would be barely alive right now, if at all. Lucky for you, Butler is going soft as he gets older."

"Yeah, lucky me," the elf muttered numbly.

"You know, he won't keep defending you forever," he hissed at her. "And I certainly won't keep restraining from hurting you for much longer if you keep it up, you little ingrate. God, I don't even know why I bothered now." He shook his head once, throwing one last glance at her. Then he stomped from the room, his body shaking with barely contained anger.

Artemis was still shaking when he arrived back at the kitchen. Butler was standing at the stove, cooking dinner.

He looked up when Artemis entered. He took in the boy's shaking form and asked, "what happened?"

"Nothing," he growled.

"Really? It doesn't seem like nothing." When he didn't answer, Butler continued. "What did she say? What did you say?"

"Well, first I went down there and she tried to hide from me," Artemis said. His anger was still clearly evident in his voice, though it had subsided a little now that he was no longer in the elf's presence. "Then she had the nerve to contradict me and disobey me several times."

Butler nodded. "Anything else?"

"Yes. Then the little ingrate told me she'd rather be uncomfortable than have to accept any of my hospitality. God, all I did was try to get her out of the basement! What is her problem?" He growled again, frustrated, and smacked his fist down on the table.

"Artemis, you should know that she's not just going to automatically trust you and listen to you without complaint. You have to take her side into account too." When Artemis opened his mouth, Butler held up a hand. "Now, hold on a minute. Finish first. What did you say when she said that?"

Artemis didn't answer at first, his jaw clenched tightly. After a moment he finally spoke, "I called her a little ingrate, as she is, and told her that she could go back to the basement and stay there until she rots for all I care."

"Anything else?"

"No," the boy lied smoothly. "Nothing of importance, anyways. Why?"

"I'm going to go talk to her. Perhaps somebody with a cool head can get her to come around. Watch the food for me, will you? When it starts to boil give it five minutes and then turn it off."

**Ok, so 15 NEW reviews until next chapter! (40 total)**


	4. The Talk

**Ok...let's repeat this...THIS STORY IS GOING TO GET OOC...VERY OOC! I AM TELLING YOU THIS MORE SO YOU DON'T GET ANGRY AT ME LATER!**

Butler went up to the room where Holly was being kept in, and knocked on the door. When there was no answer, he knocked again before entering.

Butler looked around the room and found Captain Short scrunched in the corner. Butler shook his head and silently sat down next to her, his back against the wall like her.

She looked up, eyes wide and tear streaks running down her face, "What do you want?" She asked bitterly, head returning to her knees.

"Are you ok?"

"Why should I tell you? For all I know you just want information for Fowl."

"Well, for one, I'm the only reason your not dead, or bloody right now."

"What?!" She gasped without looking up.

"Are you ok?" He repeated persistently.

Holly sighed, "What do you think? Everyone thinks I'm dead."

"Well, if it means anything. Those people think I'm dead too." Butler said, smiling.

Holly lifted her head again, a small smile forming on her face, a breathy laugh escaping her lips. "That was kind of the point."

"Listen, Artemis is a-"

"Maniac, conceited jerk, annoying twit? Any of those work?" Holly interrupted.

"Well, I was going to say that he's a little rusty with trying to get people to trust him."

"Well, I could have figured that out."

"But he has been trying."

Holly looked at him, a confused look on her, "He was trying?! I don't think telling me to go rot in the basement is earning my trust that much."

"He has a very short temper, and making him mad isn't really helping your case." He snapped at her.

"And what is my case?! Can you please tell me?!" She said, standing shakely and backing away. "You don't know anything about me. You all ruined my life! You don't know anything, especially my case."

Butler got up and made his way to the door, "Why don't you try and listen to him next time, see if you trust him."

"I. Will. NEVER. trust him!" She exclaimed.

Butler shook his head, "Just don't make him mad next time. Or I won't stop him the next time he goes to get a sharp object."

And with that, Butler left. Leaving Holly more scared than ever.

**You know the drill...15! (55 total)**


	5. She Wants This

**Ok, so this chapter is for Diana and to one of the most confusing reviews we have ever gotten!**

**Still 15 though...**

**OOC ON ARTEMIS'S PART, SORRY AND DO NOT SAY IT IS IN A REVIEW (BECAUSE WE KNOW!) OR ELSE!**

**And y'all haven't even seen my review nazi side. My next drabble series has to have 100 reviews (but they are REALLY long!)**

How did it go?" Artemis asked when Butler returned to the kitchen. He'd done as he was asked, taking the food off the stove after five minutes of letting it boil, and even made up plates.

Butler sighed and sat down. "That's between her and I."

"So not very well, then, I take it? I told you she was a little ingrate."

Butler didn't reply to that. "Maybe not. But I do think you should make another plate up."

"Why?" he demanded, though he had a sneaking suspicion he already knew. "Mother already ate, and Juliet left earlier."

"Artemis," Butler chided, "you may not like her, but you cannot starve her, either. She has to eat too, you know."

He groaned. "You're the one who wanted to let her live, not me. Why can't you take care of her?"

"She's not my guest," the manservant answered.

"Well, she certainly isn't mine!" Artemis countered furiously.

"Yes, she is! Get over yourself, Artemis! As of right now you are the master of this manor, so you'd better suck it up and act like it. And if you can't, then you might as well just kill her, because this-" he paused for a moment, unsure of how to put it correctly, "-this just is not going to fly."

The room was silent for a minute after Butler's little outburst. Artemis stared at his bodyguard in shock; he wasn't accustomed to him being so opinionated in such matters.

He must feel strongly about this, Artemis realized. "Fine," he relented quietly, "I'll go try and see if I can get her to come down and eat something."

"Thank you," the man said. He started walking toward the door, but he was stopped again, "oh, and Artemis?"

The boy stopped in the doorway, but didn't turn. "What?"

"Please be nice to her."

Artemis sighed. "I'll try," he promised, "but I can't promise anything more."

Figuring that was the best he would get, Butler nodded once and watched the boy leave in silence.

When Butler left, Holly retreated into her little corner. She hadn't moved since then, preferring to curl back up into a ball and start crying again. She knew it wasn't going to do her any good, but it still felt good to get it out.

She thought about what Butler had said for awhile. "Just don't make him mad next time. Or I won't stop him the next time he goes to get a sharp object."

This was important for a few reasons. For one thing, it meant that if and probably when Artemis went for a sharp object, it wouldn't be the first time. It meant that Artemis had seriously wanted to hurt her before. And it meant that he thought that it probably wouldn't be the last time, and, of course, that when the next time came around, that he wouldn't stop him. Not a very good sign, she couldn't help but think.

Suddenly, a knock outside the door startled her from her thoughts, and for some reason, a picture of Artemis outside the door with a knife in his hand was the first to pop into her head. She shuddered. It wasn't a pretty picture.

What could I have done to make him mad already? she wondered. She couldn't think of anything, unless Butler told him that she'd called him a bunch of names... She cringed at the thought.

"Holly." It was Artemis's voice that came through the door, though it wasn't like she expected. It was calmer, more controlled than before when she'd spoken to him.

"What?" the elf asked. She hated the way her voice cracked when she spoke, but on the other hand she made no attempt to hide it. She figured it would only get her in more trouble than before.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Why?"

He sighed. "Look, you need to eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

He sighed again and opened the door. He walked slowly over towards her, and she shrank back into the wall, away from him.

She acts like I abuse her, he thought, rolling his eyes. I've thought about it, but still, I've never actually done it, so that's not the point...

He raised his hands slightly, pausing mid-stride. "I'm not going to hurt you, Holly, but you need to come down and eat."

"I'm not hungry," she insisted. "And besides, you may not actually hurt me, but you want to. I can tell. You hate me, and you want to hurt me. You've tried to, too, Butler told me so. I don't see why you don't just do it."

"You want me to hurt you? Because that can be arranged."

"No. I don't want to be hurt, or tortured. But anything is better than you growling at me, and threatening me, and giving me those angry and absolutely hateful glares."

"Hypocrite," he growled. She flinched.

"At least I have reasons! You just hate me because- well, because... I- I don't even know! You just do! And if you hate me so much, I don't see why you even kept me alive in the first place! I don't see why you didn't just kill me!" She was shouting by the end of it, all of her pent up emotions flying out into the open, unbidden.

He growled again, low and frustrated. He was on the verge of shouting himself, and, admittedly, he wasn't quite sure what to do. If he went down to the kitchen again, he wasn't positive he could restrain himself from getting a weapon and coming straight back up here with it, but on the same note if he stayed in here and tried to try to rationalize with her, he would probably lose complete control after a few minutes longer and snap.

So he did the logical thing; he turned on his heel and raced out of the room, slamming the door behind him, and went to his room. He locked himself in and didn't leave for the rest of the night.

Holly, on the other hand, never moved. She slid down the wall into a ball, curled her arms around her knees, and stayed there all night until she fell asleep.

Artemis came out of his room even more angry than before. She did trust him, she never would. And she would never cooperate.

Luckily this time Butler wasn't in the kitchen, not able to stop Artemis from grabbing a knife.

He then went to the elf' s room, and found her asleep in the corner. This was the hard part. Artemis had no physical strength whatsoever, so how was he going to get her down to the basement?

He tried at first, luckily she was a heavy sleeper, and found that he could lift her.

She wanted this.

Holly woke up in a white concrete room. She tried to get up, but couldn't get off the cot. Her hands were tied behind her, to the cot. She took a look around and found Artemis staring at her contently.

"What in Fronds name is going on Fowl?!" She snapped angrily.

"You asked me why didn't I kill you before." He paused, pretending about it, "Well, better late than never."

That was when Holly first noticed what was in his hand. She tried to back away from him, but couldn't.

He strode up to her, "Now I wonder how much magic you have left. Or the question should be, How many cuts until you run out."

"Don't do this Artemis, please." She quietly begged, tears gathering in her eyes.

He positioned the knife on her right cheek, tears flowing freely onto it. She screamed when he pushed down, the knife biting the skin and finally breaking it. When he removed the knife, he watched with curiosity as blue sparks sprung up top to heal the wound.

He moved to the top of her arm, dragging the knife down. Blood poured from the wound he was making, and she screamed as loud as she could.

"BUTLER!" She screamed, she knew the bodyguard would never have let him hurt her, would he?

"Aww, that's cute." He purred, hate and anger flashing in his eyes, "You actually think he can hear you."

After a few more serious cuts, she finally ran out of magic, and Artemis couldn't risk making any more cuts. For if Butler found out...Artemis shuddered, not even wanting to think about it.

Holly was gasping for breath by the end of the session, tears still running down her face.

Artemis untied her, "If you even think about telling Butler, the consequences well be ten times worse. I will keep you alive, but make you beg for death."

The magic had healed her wounds, but Holly had still lost alot of blood. She slipped out of consciousness, Artemis being the last thing she saw.

Artemis was about to leave, but took one look at Holly. Tears stained her face and immediately he regretted doing what he did.

He was just so...upset about this. And her making him mad every five seconds wasn't helping her case. But it wasn't fair, she didn't mean anything by it. She had just been upset, and she had a right to. And she still does.

Artemis shook his head. It was about time Holly saw all of the manor.

**65 total**


	6. The Sleeping Lady

**Gosh y'all, this already almost has the stats of a story I've been writing for 5 months...**

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The next day, Holly woke up in the bed in the room instead of on the floor. For a second she wondered how she'd gotten there, but one look around told her the answer.

"You know, for someone so small, you're rather heavy," Artemis commented, without looking up from his laptop.

She scrambled back, away from him. She would have fell off the other side of the bed if he hadn't reached out and snatched her ankle, pulling her back up. She almost let out an involuntary scream at his touch, but it only came out as a whimper. She pulled away and he let her.

"What do you want?" she snapped, remembering their previous night's events.

He looked up at her from his laptop for a second, then his eyes flashed back down to it. Without looking up again, he pushed a plate of food onto her lap and simply said, "Eat."

She shook her head, and looked at the food like it was poison, which might actually be. "No."

"It wasn't a question. Eat."

"No."

"Now."

"I'm not hungry," she complained.

"Liar."

"Really."

"Do you really want to test me right now?!" He almost yelled.

He finally looked up and gave the elf his full attention before closing his eyes and easing back to his calm state. "Look, Holly, you need to eat. I'm sorry for what happened last night, but you made me...very angry. Now, you're not going to leave this room. You need some food in your system, and I will get it into you, one way or another. Eat."

Her eyes flashed to the door, like she was contemplating trying to run. He saw the movement and smirked. "The door is locked. And even if you unlocked it somehow and got out, you can't leave the manor, so it will be a futile effort."

"How will you get out, then?" she demanded.

"I have a key, which I don't intend to use until you've eaten."

"You can't stay in here forever."

"Captain, I can stay in here with you as long as I need to. If you want me out of your hair, then eat, and I'll leave you alone for a while."

"This is ridiculous," she sighed. She took a bite and swallowed quickly, barely chewing it, and then another, and another. She scraped the plate clean after a few more minutes, and Artemis watched intently to make sure she swallowed every bite of it. When she was done, he took the plate from her and put it on the nightstand beside her bed.

"Good girl," the boy murmured, patting her arm lightly.

She flinched and jerked away from him. "I'm not a dog, Fowl," she snapped, realizing a second too late that was probably not the brightest thing to say.

She braced herself for him to snap on her again, to drag her down to the basement, but it never happened. He just shrugged.

"You seem... different." She said cautiously.

She had paused halfway through, deciding her original statement, "you seem less hot-headed than usual," was probably not a smart thing to say.

"Why? Because I didn't get mad?" She nodded. "Well, I've decided that our arrangement was not working out very well, so I thought a different approach would be better. I'll try to keep my temper in check, and you don't purposely say things you know will make me mad, deal?"

She nodded again. "I can try... You're just so... temperamental. I never know if what I say will set you off or not."

"Then you should watch your tongue until you figure it out." He got up and walked across the room, picking a bag up off a dresser that was pushed up against the wall. He threw the bundle towards her, and she caught it automatically. "Now, get dressed, and meet me outside your door in half an hour. I think, as you'll be staying here for a while, I should show you how to navigate the manor. It will make things a lot easier on both of us."

Thirty minutes later Holly was dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans.

I'm dressed like a mental patient, she thought. Probably so I don't hurt myself.

She opened the door warily, as if danger was outside the door. Artemis was waiting for her, so she was somewhat right.

"Come on," he muttered, turning to the opposite direction and walking down the corridor.

Holly followed him hesitantly, looking around and kept a good space between them as they went through the manor. Kitchen, living room, music room, library, she tried to remember where everything was, but she would no doubt get lost sometime or another.

Finally they reached a staircase, and Holly was just about to go up it, when Artemis snatched her arm.

"Holly, I am putting this the nicest way possible... do not go up there."

Holly looked into his eyes and tried to figure out why he didn't want her up there, but couldn't. She just nodded distractedly.

Artemis was about to start yelling at her, she could feel it. But it never came. Instead, Artemis's cell phone rang.

"I'll be right back." he muttered, taking the call into the other room.

Holly looked up the stairs, she wondered what could be up there, what would be up there for Artemis to almost get upset with her.

She glanced the way Artemis went. The call did look like it was going to take a while. Maybe just a quick peek, just go in there, take a look and come down...

She nodded at her thought and headed up the stairs. Each one creaked, making her wince, but Artemis never came back. Finally, she reached the door at the top of the stairs, and opened it.

She gasped when she saw what was in there.

A sleeping lady. The covers were pulled up to her chin, so Holly couldn't get a very good look, but Holly knew she was definitely sleeping. Well, sleeping or dead.

Why would Artemis try to hide this from her? she wondered. Then she had a thought. Maybe I could help her...

**oooh cliffhanger! **

**15 reviews=80 total...it's a demanding world...**


	7. But Then again, I Dont Care

**School is starting! Yay! Sorry if the posts are late as I am in school 7-2...phew...**

**Raise your hand if you can't WAIT to go back to school!**

**_WARNING! Extreme OOCness and also the reason of why CaptainS10 and I had a discussion on whether or not it should be T or M. So...READ WITH CAUTION!_**

Her thought was abruptly cut off by Artemis. She didn't hear him approach, but suddenly she sensed his presence behind her. She tensed, and started to turn around, but stopped immediately when he curled an arm around her, pinning her arms to her sides, and his other hand covered her mouth.

"What part of stay out of the attic wasn't clear?" he hissed in her ear.

She tried to answer, but with his hand over her mouth it wasn't intelligible.

"Shut up," he growled. "Or-"

"Arty? Is that you?"

Both Artemis and Holly looked to the source of the voice. The lady was awake now, sitting up in bed. Now that she wasn't covered by the blanket Holly could take her in fully.

The woman was small and thin, and her skin cast off a sickly glow that made Holly nauseated to look at. All in all, she looked so extremely fragile it broke her heart.

"Yes, it's me, Mother," Artemis answered, his voice irritable. Holly tensed, thinking, 'mother'... He tightened his grip on her as he said, "go back to sleep."

Mrs. Fowl yawned. "That sounds like an okay idea. But first, come give me a hug."

He made a low sound, somewhere between a growl and a frustrated sigh, and squeezed Holly one time as warning before slowly releasing her. "Don't move, and don't say a word," he hissed as he walked around her.

She watched silently as Artemis stalked over and gave his mother a hug, squeezing the frail women gently once before stepping back. "Thank you," she said, as she burrowed back down under the covers.

"Of course," the boy said stiffly. "May I go now?"

"Yes, run along dear. Leave your poor mother to rest."

But Artemis had stopped listening after the "yes." Without another word to his mother, he walked back over to where Holly was standing, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and started tugging her out the door with a low growl of "come on."

He continued to drag her clear down, back to the basement, and she realized what was about to happen, a second before it did.

He busted through the basement door and threw the elf down. She slid across the basement floor and scraped her elbow, but he was beyond caring now. He turned and locked the door, and then he was on her in the next second.

"I told you to stay out of the attic," he growled at her. He pulled a small pocket knife from his suit pocket, opened it, and pressed the tip of it to her throat. His hand was shaking with his anger. "Well?" he demanded. "Nothing to say for yourself? Speak!" he barked.

"I- I'm sorry!" she choked out. "I was just curious! I- I didn't realize-"

"You didn't realize what, Holly?" he spat. "That there was a reason that I told you to stay out of there? I gave you the freedom to go almost anywhere you want in the manor, around the clock, and you just had to go to the one place I prohibited! The only one, and you still couldn't manage to restrain yourself! You know, I have half a mind to just kill you right here and now. But no," he paused and smiled evilly, his eyes filled with hate and anger, "no, I think that would be to easy."

The next thing she knew, he had plunged the knife into her calf. Her leg exploded with pain, but apparently it wasn't enough for him, as he proceeded to twist the knife in her leg with both hands, drilling it in deeply. She heard a scream, and it registered through the cloud in her mind that it must have been hers, but she couldn't bring herself to care, or to think of anything but the pain.

That was what the next hour and a half of her life was: pain. It was all she knew, and definitely all she could focus on. She writhed and screamed and begged and cried, to no avail. Every word just seemed to make him want to torture her more, because with every moment it just seemed to get worse.

By the time they were found, she had several smaller cuts all over her body, two more wounds like the one in her calf, a broken rib, and several longer cuts as well. She'd lost so much blood that she was barely on the edge of consciousness. The only reason she was still holding on was because she was afraid if she let herself pass out, she might not wake up.

Not even realizing it, she slowly started to slip into unconsciousness, only to be zapped back into awareness by someone shouting, someone who she realized wasn't her for once. There was too much blood in her ears to tell what was being said though.

Then suddenly Artemis grabbed another fistful of her hair and dragged her up, pinning her limp body against his, and she heard his voice right by her ear say, "one more step and I'll finish her off."

"Artemis, put the elf down," Butler said. "Don't hurt her, just lay her down."

"Why should I?" Artemis demanded. "She deserves to die. And nobody will miss her anyways, everybody who cares already thinks she's dead."

"Well, I'm sure she cares! Look, whatever happened I'm sure can be worked out. Now please, just put her down."

"Fine," the boy snarled. "You want her? Here she is!" He pushed the elf away from him, and she rolled and fell to the floor at the giant man's feet. "But fair warning, she's lost enough blood I can honestly say I have no idea whether she'll die of blood loss or not. But then again, I don't care." He stood up. "Good luck, and good bye."

Then he stomped out of the room, leaving Butler alone with the broken and blood soaked form of Captain Short.

**Ok, 15 more! 95 total! **


	8. The Wrong Ritual

**Ok, typo...put PLEASE in front of the command ;)**

As soon as Artemis was out of sight, Butler got to work on Holly.

He had to stop the bleeding, so he took the coat he had on and put pressure on the more serious wounds, trying to staunch the bleeding.

She did lose a lot of blood so far. It covered the concrete floor and some of the walls as well. Holly was also covered in it, and Butler wondered just how long Artemis tortured her.

But that didn't matter right now. Captain Short was going to go into shock, and perhaps die, if he didn't do something soon.

So he wrapped his coat around her and picked her up. She was already unconscious, head leaned back and struggling to breath. Butler took her upstairs towards the front door. If he could complete the ritual for her, then she would have magic to heal herself.

But just when he was about to get to the door, Butler found that he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, he physically couldn't get to the door.

Artemis put those rules on her, so she can't leave the house, he thought. And I have her, so I can't get out either. I could take her to the green room, but there are no acorns there.

Fortunately, that was the time Juliet got back. She opened the door, took one look at Holly, and almost screamed. She would have, if Butler hadn't spoken to her first.

"Go back outside and get the first acorn you see. Then meet me in the greenroom," he said, turning around.

"What hap-" Juliet started.

"Juliet, please, I'll try to explain later, just go!" he said, walking away.

Once he got to the greenroom, he put Holly down next to the nearest pot of soil. As soon as Juliet came back, and Butler took the acorn and wrapped Holly's small hand around it, then plunged it into the pot of soil for her.

Blue sparks appeared for a brief minute, everywhere. Lighting up the dark corners of their minds. That's all they saw before Holly collapsed, unconscious. Not bleeding so badly anymore, and but also not completely stopped, and only a few of the smaller wounds were healed.

Butler looked at the elf for a minute, not understanding why the ritual hadn't worked completely. Then he remembered that fairies were supposed to complete the ritual at a specific place and time, and none of the requirements had been met here. They were lucky anything had happened at all.

He sighed, then picked her up and carried her to her room, telling Juliet to take care of her for now and, if he turned up, not to let Artemis in under any condition.

Then the bodyguard went to go find his charge.

**110 total! Don't you understand? You review! You, right there! Come on, why don't you want a chapter! **


	9. Hey Fairy Girl

**Ok...Well, ummmmm...Yea. Ok.**

When Butler found Artemis, he was locked away in his study. Luckily, Butler had a spare key to the room, because he really didn't want to have to knock his charge's door in.

"Couldn't you have at least knocked?" the boy demanded, not even looking up from his laptop.

"Your privacy is the least of my worries right now, Artemis. You could have killed her!"

"I know. Didn't you hear me say that I don't care?"

"You should care! Artemis, this is serious! Look at me." The boy didn't move, so he snatched the laptop from his hands, closed it, and threw it to the side.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

"What is with you lately?" Butler demanded. "Why can't you just treat her like a human being for once?"

"She isn't human, so why should I treat her like one?"

"That's not even good logic, Artemis. She may not be human, but she still feels and has feelings like one! Don't be so ridiculous! What has she done to you that has made you hate her so much?"

"She's a little ingrate, she's nothing but rude, and she does everything she can to make me mad. She also follows no direction that I give to her, no matter what they are. She fights me every step of the way, no matter what I do for her."

"More like what you do to her! You've screamed and yelled at her, you've threatened her, you drugged and kidnapped her, and you've even tortured her once!"

"Twice," he corrected, now past worrying about Butler finding out.

"Okay, so you've tortured her twice," Butler ground out furiously. "I told you this can't happen, Artemis, and I meant it. If it's what it takes to keep you from hurting her, I'll lock her in a room again and make sure only Juliet and myself are allowed in it, one of us guarding at all times. Whatever it takes.

"But you're turning into some kind of monster, Artemis. I don't like it, and I sure as heck am going to find a way to change it. Or at the very least put a limit on it. Mark my words, this won't happen again." He took a deep breath, shook his head, and turned toward the door.

"What? Leaving so soon?" Artemis asked quietly.

"I've said my piece, now I'm going to check on Captain Short. But do remember what I said, Artemis, because I mean it. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again. And as for this time... I will say you're lucky it was me who caught you,and caught you when I did. This could have ended a lot worse, and I don't just mean for her."

Then he turned and walked out the door, shutting it behind him with considerably more force than necessary, leaving Artemis alone in his study.

When Holly woke, the first thing she noticed was that she was back in the room Artemis had given her and not in the basement. The second was that she was alone.

"Hey, Fairy Girl, you awake yet?"

Well, mostly alone.

"Hmm?" the elf asked. She tried to sit up, but Juliet was at her side in a second and pushed her right back down.

"Oh no. You stay down, otherwise you'll probably just hurt yourself, and then I'll get yelled at, 'cause I'm under strict orders to make sure you nor anybody else hurts you while he's gone."

"Where is he?"

"He went to find Artemis and yell at him, I think."

"Oh."

"Yeah." There was silence in the room for a moment after that, then Juliet said, "so, you took quite a beating the other night. Artemis messed you up pretty good. I was wondering... what did you do that made him so mad?'

Holly bit her lip. "Look, I really don't want to talk about this yet. Please, don't make me right now."

Juliet sighed. "I guess, if you're not comfortable with it... okay."

Holly exhaled deeply. "Oh, thank you. To be honest, most of it is a blur anyhow. I'm not sure I even remember half of what went down correctly."

"With the amount of head trauma you took in, I'm not surprised."

Holly nodded. "True." She pushed herself up on her elbow and tried to sit up again. She got about halfway there, and suddenly felt a shooting pain go clear up her arm. She whimpered softly and Juliet reached around her to help ease her slowly back down onto the pillows.

"Now, see? I told you," the human girl scolded.

"Yeah, sorry," Holly whispered. She leaned back into the pillows and said, "can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Fairy Girl, have at it."

She closed her eyes. "How am I alive? I could have sworn... I mean, I was sure..."

"Sure of what? That you were going to die? I bet you probably wished that at the time, and if Butler hadn't gotten there when he did you probably would be. I know you wouldn't have lasted much longer if he hadn't been stopped when he was." Juliet frowned, seemingly at the thought, which made Holly give her a funny look. Juliet noticed and asked, "what?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me, Fairy Girl."

"Really, its nothing, but if you really want to know, I suppose... I just don't get it. Why are you doing this? Why do you keep fighting so hard to keep me alive? Why do you care?"

Juliet thought about it. "Honestly, Holly, I don't know. I guess you're just kinda growing on us."

"Growing on you? Other than this, I've only ever talked to you a few times, one of which you threatened to pile drive me."

"True," the girl admitted with a laugh. "But seriously, if you want a better answer to those questions, you should really ask-"

"Juliet, I told you to watch her, not to wake her up and harass her!" called a voice from the doorway. Holly looked and found that the voice belonged to Butler. He turned and shut the door behind him, shaking his head. Holly flinched involuntarily at the click it made when he locked it as well.

He walked up to stand behind his sister, and smiled gently down at her. "Hello, Captain Short. How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess," the elf answered slowly. "I could be better, but then, I suppose I could be worse too." She paused. "You saved my life, Butler. If you hadn't stepped in, he probably would have killed me. How can I repay you?"

"If I hadn't stepped in, he definitely would have killed you, no probably about it," the manservant said, his face darkening. "As for how you can repay me, let's not worry about that."

"But-"

"No buts, please. If you really want to make it up to me, then let's call it even. I helped Artemis kidnap you, and technically I am partly to blame, so if that is really what you want, lets just wipe the slate clean then, at least with us. Okay?"

She nodded. "That sounds fair."

"Great. Now, I need to tell you something, Captain. I just went in there and had a stern talk with Artemis, which I know he didn't like too much, but I don't really care. It was the truth. What he did was wrong, and we all know it. Juliet and I want to do something about it, to make sure it doesn't happen again, but unfortunately, the ways we can think of to do that are limited, and we aren't left with a lot of options. So I wanted to ask, and please don't freak out, but-"

"Yes," Holly interrupted.

"What? How do you know what I was going ask?"

"The 'don't freak out' kind of gave you away, Butler. I know what you're wanting to do, and I agree it makes the most sense."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I'm going to change the locks on the door, and make a new key for it so that only Juliet and I have copies. Perhaps I'll do one with one of those electronic keypads you have to put the code in to open."

Holly cleared her throat. "Exactly how many locks are you planning to put on my door?"

"A few," he replied. "I don't want you to feel like a prisoner again, Holly, because I don't want it to be like that, but it might have to be like that in order to keep you safe. Can you deal with that, at least for a little bit until I can figure out how to get a handle on Artemis's behavior?"

She shifted uneasily, not liking the idea, but nodded anyhow. "I guess so."

He squeezed the elf's shoulder reassuringly. "It won't be that bad, you'll see. And thank you. You're making things a lot easier on me this way."

"I know, that's why I agreed," she sighed.

"Well, now that we have everything sorted out, I think you should rest, Captain. Give your body the rest it needs to heal up." He stood. "Come on, Juliet."

"Okay," the human agreed. "Bye, Fairy Girl."

"Bye, Juliet," the elf muttered. She watched the two walk out the door, then rolled over and closed her eyes. She was asleep barely five minutes later.

**Ok, this is going waaaay to fast sorry, but we need more time. Can y'all review 25 this time? Making it 135 total?**


	10. Bleeding Out

**Ok ok, sorry for review killing y'all. It's just I only have 15 done and CaptainS10 has disappeared! If we don't start writing chapters...I'm afraid I'm going to have to...hiatus this story. Sorry!**

Then Butler left, Artemis got up and retrieved his laptop from where the manservant had chucked it.

He sat back down in his chair and tried to resume working, but soon found that he couldn't concentrate. His mind kept drifting back to Holly.

He thought about what his bodyguard has said. It was true; all of it. He had been acting rather odd lately, even he had noticed it. He had been feeling different too, though he knew that was no excuse.

That was entirely true as well. No matter what, there was no excuse for what he had done.

He'd lost complete and total control of his temper, and Holly had paid the price. Of course, he had warned her, and she done exactly what he'd told her not to do anyhow. Perhaps some sort of punishment had been in order, but nothing near as severe as what he'd actually done. But what could he do about it now?

I should apologize, he realized. The more he thought about it, the guiltier he felt, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to block the feelings out for once, or push them down.

He sighed and stood up. The longer I wait to deal with this, the worse these feelings will get, he thought. Best get it over with so I can focus again and get back to work.

Artemis left his study and went down the hall to Holly's room. He stopped abruptly when he saw Juliet. How was he supposed to get past her?

But then Juliet's phone rang, and she answered it. "Dom-I mean, Butler, what do you want?" She paused, the rolled her eyes. "What kind of lock needs a doors measurement? Well, you should have taken them before you left!"

There was a long pause before Juliet squealed, "oh! A wrestling match! Can we go right after you get the locks on? Okay, let me just get the tape." She rolled her eyes, "Yes, he's in his study." Then she left.

Artemis walked calmly to Holly's door and went in. He shut the door as quietly as he could before turning around and saw Holly still sleeping.

Well, that's why she hasn't screamed yet, he thought. He went and sat down in a chair that was in a corner of the room.

He didn't know how much time passed, but he did notice how hurt Holly was. Or rather, how hurt he made her. What Butler did to save her was far from enough to heal her completely. There were deep scratches everywhere, and scars where some of the not-so-serious ones had healed.

Finally, Holly stirred. She opened her eyes weakly, and then guess what the first thing she saw was? Artemis.

Holly's eyes widened. She turned and tried to scramble away from him, but she went too far and fell off the side of the bed. Artemis went to go and help her, but she raised her hand and said, "wait. Stay there." He stopped for a second, and she grabbed the side of the bed and pulled herself up. Then she looked at him and said, "please leave me alone."

He took a deep breath. "Look, Holly, I know-"

"I said please, Artemis. I asked nicely once, now leave before I scream for help," she interrupted.

He looked away from her, trying to find his composure and not lose his temper. When he finally calmed down, he stood up and took a step towards her. She immediately took a step back. He took anther step and Holly went across the bed and sprinted to the door.

She twisted the handle and tried to open it, but the door wouldn't budge. She screamed for help, but no one came.

"Butler and Juliet are away. Now, Captain Short, please just listen to me."

"No," she said stubbornly. "You want me to listen to you after you almost killed me? After you tortured me for over an hour? No way."

Artemis took a slow step towards her, and she screamed for help again. "I'm not going to hurt you, Holly," he said softly. He got closer and touched the elf's shoulder, and she screamed louder. Then she turned around sharply and clutched at her stomach, doubling over. It took Artemis a minute to find out why.

One of Holly's more serious wounds on her stomach had opened up, and blood was pouring from the wound, through her shirt.

Artemis reached out and laid one hand on her stomach wound, pressing down lightly, and put the other around her and scooped her up. She tried to protest, but the pain distracted her from what was going on around her.

Artemis put her on the bed and disappeared into the adjoining bathroom. When he came back, he had a towel in his hand. He laid it over her stomach and put pressure on the wound, trying to staunch the bleeding.

If the door wasn't locked, I could go and stitch this up, he thought.

Holly yelped in pain as Artemis put more pressure on the wound. Then she seemed to realize how close he was to her, and tried to get away, but it only caused more pain and blood.

"Stop! You're just hurting yourself!" Artemis snapped.

"I can handle it, just get away from me!" she yelled.

Artemis ignored her and took the blood soaked towel back, going to the bathroom to retrieve another one. He did the same procedure with this one, and was about to take that one to the dirty clothes too, but was stopped because it was at that exact moment Butler unlocked the door and threw it open.

First he looked at the locks and started to say, "Artemis, how did you-" but then he looked at Holly. His eyes widened as he took in the blood soaked towel Artemis held and his red stained hands. He called for his sister, who was there in a heartbeat.

"Go and stitch Holly up," he told her, then pointed at Artemis and said, "you. Study. Now."

Artemis looked into Butler's eyes and all thoughts of arguing with him disappeared.

Artemis stalked to the study and flopped down in the desk chair as Butler came into the room, anger distorting his face. He started pacing the room rapidly.

"What did she do this time Artemis?! Scream at you through the door in her sleep?" he seethed.

"I merely went in there to apologize. Juliet left the door opened when she left, so I just went in. I waited until she woke up, but when she opened her eyes and saw me she tried to get away from me. She opened a wound in the process, and what I was doing when you walked in was trying to get the blood to stop."

"Well, didn't you get the hint to leave her alone when she tried to get away from you?!"

"Its not like I could leave, the door was locked! And I was just trying to apologize! "

Butler stopped his pacing, and looked Artemis in the eyes. He put his hands on the front of the desk, leaning on it. "Artemis, get this through to your supposed-to-be-genius brain. You have kidnapped, drugged, and even tortured her. She hates you, and she has a right to. There probably is nothing that's going to change that now. You've had chance after chance to earn her trust, I even tried to help you, but I think you've went over the limit now. From now on, if you can't control yourself, just leave Captain Short alone."

And with that, he went to go help Juliet, leaving Artemis alone again in his study.

**Ok, so let's see...mmm...150? That's 15 of 135...**


	11. Apologize?

**Ok, we are on hiatus...**

**Nah, no hiatus...EVER! (And I spent three hours making a cool cover art *pouts*)**

**Disclaimer: I have checked a million times...*goes and checks*...damn.**

The boy sat and stared at the door for a minute after his bodyguard left, contemplating what he had said. It was true that the captain hated him, even more so now than before when he initially kidnapped her. And he probably should leave her alone, but he still hadn't got to apologize, and he knew his mind wouldn't let him rest until he did.

Even if I did apologize, the boy thought, 'sorry' isn't going to make it better this time. I mortally injured her, gave her scars that will last her the rest of her extended life. And 'sorry' wasn't going to make those go away, nor erase the memories of that. Not to mention the emotional damage he had probably done in that short time.

Speaking of Captain Short... he wondered if Juliet had stitched her up yet.

The thought brought another pang of guilt on; she had done that to herself trying to get away from him because she was scared. Scared of him, because of what he had done...

Stop it! he scolded himself internally. That's not helping. But then he sighed. Forget it, he thought. Forget it all. I don't care what they are doing to try and protect her, I'm going to find a way to get to her, so I can finally apologize, before this newfound guilt eats me alive.

He jumped up and bolted out the door, an idea overtaking him. He knew there was a reason he was drawn to give that room to Holly, and he just remembered why.

That room had a tunnel leading up to the closet in it. It was one of the old servant's corridors. They were no longer used, as they no longer had any servants like the ones that those corridors were made for, but he had learned at a young age how to use and navigate them. All he had to do was find the tunnel entrance again, which he was pretty sure was in the pantry...

He ran all the way to the pantry, tripping several times on the way. There were several tunnel entrances from here, now he just had to remember the correct one. He closed his eyes and thought hard for a minute. Then he suddenly realized: the cupboard! It's under the cupboard!

He dropped down to his hands and knees, disgusted and worried about his suit, but still crawling down into the cabinet and pulling the door shut behind him. He pushed a few old cans of food out of the way and felt around for the tunnel entrance. It was covered with an old slab of stone, he remembered. Which was a good thing, because he was navigating from memory alone under here with no light.

It took him a minute to find, but eventually his fingers brushed against the cold rock and he knew he had found the entrance. He pushed the rock out of the way and clambered into the tunnel.

Once inside, he could stand again, which was good,because his back was starting to hurt from the cramped cupboard. Now he just had to follow the correct hallways, which should be easy, and it would only take him a matter of minutes to get into Holly's room.

He went on for about ten minutes. Walking here, crawling there, and following about fifty twists and turns in different directions, he finally came to a short slope that he knew would take him to the end of his journey.

He climbed up slowly, coming to a complete stop when he reached the closet door. If he burst into the room with a bunch of people in there, he was going to be in trouble with the Butlers and the tunnel would end up sealed, leaving him no way to get back in. He had to proceed with caution from here.

He pressed his ear to the door. There was no sounds coming through it, not even the distinctive sounds of breathing that could usually be heard, so he guessed it was safe.

He pushed opened the door and slipped out, shutting it silently behind him. Looking around, he realized he was completely alone. The room was empty except for him. He knew that Butler and Juliet hadn't let Holly out yet, and there was only one other place she could be then...

It was at that moment the door to the adjoining bathroom creaked open, and Holly stepped out, clad in a soft looking blue colored bathrobe. Her hair was plastered down to the sides of her face, still dripping wet. She walked over to the bed and laid down, closing her eyes and letting out a low groan.

She didn't seem to notice the mattress moving when he sat down on the end of the bed, but she did about jump out of her skin when he reached out a lightly touched her ankle. "Holly."

The elf jumped, her eyes flying open and shooting bolt upright in the bed. She took one look at him and started to get out of bed, but he reached over and grabbed her arms, pulling her back down. "No, Holly," he said firmly.

She fell back onto the bed, landing on her back a few inches away from him. Then she scrambled up and curled into a ball at the front of the bed. He slowly started to go over to her, but a whimper from her stopped him. He raised his hands, and she flinched.

"Holly, I'm not going to hurt you. I just came to talk."

"Artemis, how did you even get in?"

He cocked his head. "I'll tell you what. You come back down here and hear me out, and I'll tell you."

She hesitated, then nodded. "Fine. But keep your hands to yourself, or I won't hesitate to scream again."

"Of course. And you have every right to be afraid of me. That's what I'm here about, in fact. The-"

"I'm not afraid of you," she interrupted. He rolled his eyes and gave her a look, and she cringed. "Okay, okay! Maybe a little... or a lot." Her voice was a whisper as she finished.

"I know. Again, that's what I came here to talk to you about, and that's also why I came earlier. Unfortunately my earlier attempt to apologize didn't go exactly as I hoped."

"You came to... apologize?" Holly asked, confused.

"Yes. It sounds bizarre, but that is what I came for. I let myself get caught up in my anger the other night, Holly, and you paid dearly for it. I am truly sorry for hurting you so badly. I am fully aware that my apology can in no way erase the fact that I did, but I have hopes that at the very least hearing this will make you feel a little better."

She stared at him for a minute in silence after he finished. "You're... sorry?" she said slowly. He nodded. "You know, that actually does make me feel a little better. At least I know you don't hate me so much now."

"I don't hate you, Holly, I never did, either. You just frustrate me a lot, and there's only so much before I reach my limit and bust on you, which is kind of what happened before. And all of the frustration wasn't even because of you. I've just had a lot since this whole thing started, and it finally became too much then, so I took it out on you. It was nothing personal, really."

"I think you need anger management classes," she murmured. "Or a therapist or something."

The boy laughed softly. "I've tried both. Usually, I meditate, and that helps, but I just haven't gotten around to it lately."

"Oh." she said quietly. "How does that work?"

He smiled. "I could teach you, if you'd like."

"Maybe some other time."

"Alright," he agreed. Then he stood up. "I should go, before I get caught."

"Will you come back?" she asked.

"Maybe later," he allowed. "But I make no promises on if or when."

She sighed, but nodded. "Okay."

He thought he heard a tinge of disappointment in her voice, but he couldn't be sure. He decided it would probably be best not to question her on it.

He turned and walked back into the closet, closing the door behind him and heading back into the tunnels.

**Ok, 15! That makes 165 total...WOW!**


	12. The Chandelier

**Hiya! Soooo, here's the chapter! **

Over the next few days, Artemis and Holly didn't see much of each other. That was because Butler was determined to keep them apart in fear of Artemis's recent behavior.

However, he did accept the fact that Holly could not be locked in her room for days on end, so she was allowed to roam the manor as long as Butler knew where Artemis was at all times. Even if it meant to go send Juliet to spy on the genius-who usually found out the second she entered a twenty foot radius.

The day after Artemis had gone through the tunnels and to Holly's room, the chandelier in the main room blew a fuse. The chandelier was in fact so complicated to reroute to the circuits, even Butler couldn't fix it alone. And as neither Juliet nor Artemis could be of any assistance, they had to bring in a person to repair it.

The day before the person came, Butler was worried of the chance of Holly being exposed.

"Try to stay away from the main room tomorrow, okay?" Butler told Holly.

If only I knew how to go through the tunnels like Artemis,thought Holly, then I could be able to not risk exposure.

She nodded warily, but she knew that she would have to go through there at some point the next day.

Artemis stayed in his study in that amount of time. Company deals, and evil plots did not come as easy as you think when you have a fairy prisoner running around for whom you have mutual feelings for. She was so aggravating sometimes, but the last talk they had a few nights ago proved that they could have a civilized conversation.

Butler informed him of the chandelier and of the situation with the person coming to repair it, and his worries about Holly. Artemis didn't know quite what was worrying Butler. Holly was a former captain, she knew how to handle herself.

But perhaps she was showing signs of change. Constant worrying and being scared, and although he had brought in those himself, he couldn't help but wondering if this was the same elf he had kidnaped not even a month ago. But who was he to judge, usually he had his emotions in check and lately he had been so violent and angry.

I better meditate later, he thought to himself.

The next day came quickly, and when the person came Holly stayed in her room. Juliet came in to check on her soon after he arrived.

"Hey, Fairy Girl," the blonde said, closing the door.

"Juliet! He could here you!" she quipped.

Juliet went and sat next to the elf on the floor, leaning her back against the bedside, "And what if he does? He has a job to do, its not like he's going to go to the government just because I said the word 'fairy.'"

Holly sighed. "Point taken, I guess. I've just been on edge all day."

"Well, there's nothing to worry about. Now, how are those wounds healing?" she said, looking Holly over.

Holly levered her arms in front of her. "I can put my arms up to here now."

Juliet took in a sharp breath. "Ouch," she finally muttered.

Holly laughed. "Yeah."

Juliet got up. "Come on, we can go and watch a movie in my room."

Holly shrank back down, wincing as it caused a shot of pain in her back. "No thanks, then we would have to cross Butler and..."

"Josh."

"Thank you, we would have to cross Butler and Josh. And I've been through enough this past while, I would rather not like to be discovered today and then dissected tomorrow, so no thank you."

"Come on, Holly," the girl groaned, rolling her eyes. "I'll distract him and you can go and sneak into my room. And you won't even have to cross Artemis in his study, he's downstairs."

Holly thought about this for a moment. "Fine," she mumbled.

"Great!" Juliet exclaimed, jumping up and scrambling to the door. "Just give me a thirty second head start." Then she left the room.

Now it was Holly's turn to roll her eyes, nevertheless she counted to thirty and left, covering her ears the best she could with her short hair.

Holly turned to the right. Juliet had already distracted the unfamiliar human, though he was still mostly focused on the chandelier. Holly crept past Butler and was about halfway there when Josh lost his footing on the ladder, knocking down the chandelier. It flew sideways, heading straight for Holly.

Luckily, Butler was ready for anything. He pushed Holly out of the way at the very last second, and then rolled himself to safety. But was Holly safe?

Far from it.

Holly tripped when she was pushed backwards and was rolling down the staircase, not at a hard enough pace to kill her on impact, but not exactly a soft pace either. It still hurt.

And unfortunately, that meant she was going to hit the bottom of the stairwell...hard.

She was already wounded bad, and with her bouncing down each stair this last blow could mean the end for her. Holly braced herself for the hard floor hitting her.

But it never came.

No, it never did. Instead she was caught.

By Butler? No.

By Juliet? No.

Holly opened her eyes, her hazel ones meeting his ice blue ones.

"Are you okay?" Artemis asked, concern flashing in his face.

Holly tried to speak, but that fall didn't go by without repercussions, and the repercussion of that fall hurt... a lot.

Artemis asked again if Holly was okay, but the elf was too weak to answer, and blacked out before either of them could make another move. She was bleeding badly, yet again.

**dun Dun DUUUUUN! 180 total and...go!**


	13. That Longing Look

***sighs and puts bookbag down* so, school started...ugh. that means from 5 AM to 2 PM I am no where near a computer! So if there are some late updates, DON'T GET UPSET!**

**Oh! And thanks to tawny for noticing my cover art! If you like it, join one of my 2 contests! PM ME or check out my FIO story.**

Artemis sighed and hoisted the elf into his arms, yelling for Butler at the same time.

The bodyguard's head poked out the door. He opened his mouth to ask what had happened, but then he saw Holly's unconscious form in his arms and sighed. "Take her to her room, I'll be there in a second."

"No! She's bleeding, she needs help now!" Artemis protested.

Butler stared at him for a minute, seemingly shocked. "Okay," he said slowly. "I'm coming. Why don't you-"

But the boy was beyond hearing, already out the door and was heading towards her room with a mutter of "good." He stopped at the door when he realized that it was still locked.

He muttered a curse and shifted the elf's weight to one arm as he reached up to key in the code. He wasn't supposed to know it, but he guessed that if Butler really wanted to keep him out that badly he should have been smart enough to make the code something harder than his sister's birthday. After that it was only a matter of a few dead bolts and a key, which he had a copy of because it was the same type of lock as the one in attic, and he was able to throw open the door.

He laid Holly down on her bed, then went in the bathroom to fetch a towel t soak up some of the blood while he waited on Butler.

It didn't take long for him to show up in the doorway, everything he needed to sew Holly up cradled in his arm.

"What the heck happened?" he demanded, leaning over her. "I swear, every time you get near the poor elf she gets hurt."

"It does seem that way, but this time it wasn't my fault," said Artemis. "In fact, I'm probably the reason she isn't dead right now. With all the trauma she's had lately, and the pace she was rolling at, that last blow could have killed her."

"Yes," Butler agreed. "Nice catch, by the way." He continued to work as he spoke, and Holly's wound was almost closed now.

"Thanks," the boy muttered. He was more focused on Holly than anything else.

Butler noticed this and decided not to comment, finishing up quickly. "There," he said, sounding satisfied. "She'll be fine now." He turned and started walking towards the door, but stopped halfway there upon realizing that his charge was not following him. "Artemis?"

"I'm staying." Artemis's voice was firm as he spoke.

"Artemis, I'm not sure that that's such a good idea. You guys don't exactly get along, and-"

"I'm perfectly in control of my temper, Butler," he said, a hint of irritation in his tone. "Now, go help the repair guy finish fixing the chandelier. We will be fine."

Butler studied him for a minute, wondering what had come over him now. Nevertheless, he turned and exited the room with only a mutter of "the repair guy's name is Josh" and a shake of his head.

Artemis sat down on the edge of the bed, gingerly touching the elf's arm, and a small sigh escaped him. He felt an almost overwhelming urge to take her hand, but he shook it off and turned to stare out the window across the room.

He sat like that for awhile, lost in his thoughts, and didn't realize when she woke up until she sat up and said, "Artemis?"

He jumped. "Holly. You're awake."

"Yeah," she sighed. "Though if you hadn't caught me, I probably wouldn't be. I would have died."

Artemis shook his head. "You don't know that for sure, but there was a great possibility."

She shrugged. "Either way, you saved me from at least getting really hurt again. I think I at least owe you a thank you for that."

"Don't bother. If you want to thank me, let's just forget about the way you got really hurt the first time. Agreed?"

"I can try," she said hesitantly. "We'll put it behind us, but I can't guarantee that I can forget about it fully, or anything like that."

"Fine," he agreed. They sat in silence for a minute, then looked at each other simultaneously. Their eyes met, and they held each other's gaze briefly before Holly shifted her eyes away.

She's trying to avoid more orders, Artemis realized. She's still worried about that. He thought about his previous orders given to her, and realized what Holly was probably looking at.

He followed her gaze and saw he was right. She was staring at the window, and he didn't miss the flash of longing in her eyes while she was doing so. "Holly," he said softly.

She shifted her gaze back to him. At the look on his face she must have realized she'd been caught, and she ducked her head, her face flushing red. "Sorry," she murmured.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked. She just shrugged and didn't look at him again. He stood up with a sigh, and held out his hand. She looked at it, but didn't take it. "Come with me," he said.

She bit her lip, but nodded and took his hand. He pulled her to her feet, keeping a firm hold on her hand as he pulled her along with him.

She was forced to stop five feet away from the window. "I can't, Artemis, remember? You said no outside doors or windows."

"I know what I said before," he told her. "This is what I'm saying now. As long as I'm with you, and you don't have any intentions on trying to jump out or something stupid like that, you can look out the window. Now come on." He tugged her hand again, and this time she was able to follow him to the window.

He stopped a few feet away, but pushed her forward. There was a little window seat there on the windowsill, and she sat hesitantly down on the edge. She reached up and touched the glass with the tips of her fingers, looking out intently, and he could she how much these simple luxuries affected her. A small smile spread out on her face, causing him to smile a bit too.

He crossed and sat down beside her on the seat. "Feel better?"

"A little," Holly admitted. "Thank you."

He nodded and looked away, leaving her to her thoughts for the moment as he submerged in his. When he looked back, Holly had rested her head on her knees, still staring out the window.

At first he thought that that was the only thing that had changed. Then he saw the tear rolling down her cheek. He had almost missed it.

Almost.

"Holly? What's wrong?" he asked, concern coloring his tone even after he fought to keep it out.

She shook her head, and wiped the tear away. "Nothing, I guess. I mean, it's beautiful, and thank you for letting me do this, it's just..."

He squeezed her knee. "It's just what?"

"It's just..." She ducked her head, her cheeks burning again. "I just wish I could actually go out," she finished, so quietly her voice was barely audible.

He stared at her for a moment, then sighed and leaned back. "No, Holly. I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to do that."

"I know. It was a stupid hope, but I couldn't stop the thought..." She trailed off, glancing at him for the briefest moment before her eyes darted back to the window. She hoped her disappointment didn't show too much, but she knew she wasn't good at hiding her emotions, nowhere near as good as Artemis usually was, so she figured it did.

She looked up when Artemis stood. "Are you leaving?" she asked. He nodded, and she sighed. She went to stand up too, but he pushed her back down gently.

"Don't do anything stupid, and you know what I mean, and I won't care about you coming near this window. None of the others now, but I'll allow it here. Okay?"

She nodded, and he patted her shoulder once before turning and heading towards the door. She watched him leave, then turned silently back to the window, unable to keep the small smile from reappearing on her face.


	14. She Knew The Risks

**Here is the chapter y'all have been waiting for!**

Foaly paced the Ops Booth silently, his sadness the only feature on his face. It seemed practically etched into his features permanently now. Ever since the end of "The Fowl Siege" that was all the centaur could do, and feel. He killed one of his few friends, definitely one of the closest, so how could he not be upset? He hadn't left the ops booth in days, weeks even, he had lost count after a short while. It didn't matter really, he wasn't planning on leaving soon.

Foaly sighed and sat down in front of the computer, ready to try and do the first spot of work he had done in who knows how long.

He was just about to start some files when commander Root strode into the room.

"Did you get those files done, Foaly?" Root asked, still looking down at his stack of paperwork.

"Just starting them, Commander," Foaly replied sullenly.

Root looked up, his face starting to get red. "I gave you those files a long time ago centaur!"

"I haven't been able to get any work done, Julius."

Root calmed down, seeming to realize what was wrong. Giving a reassuring glance to Foaly, he took a nearby chair and sat down next to the centaur.

"Listen to me, Foaly. Holly was a hostage negotiator. She knew the risks of these situations. It's not your fault. It's no one's fault, really, except Fowl's. She was a good officer, and she worked on instinct instead of the book. That's not very common. I sent Trouble to go pick her body up yesterday, and he should be back any minute."

Just then Trouble burst into the room, out of breath and panicking.

"Fowl is alive!" he breathed.

Root and Foaly shot out of the chairs simultaneously, both exclaiming, "What?!"

They looked at each other before looking at Trouble. "What do you mean, Captain?" Root demanded.

"We went there, but before we even got into the vicinity my officers were getting sick. He's alive."

Foaly perked up a little bit, a sprout of hope forming. "What about Hol- Captain Short?"

Trouble shook his head. "We took a heat scan of the basement. No life signs. Whatever he did, Fowl didn't spare her."

Foaly visibly deflated, his little hope crushed with the ending of that statement. "Oh." Then: "Is there anyway he could have moved her?"

Both Trouble and the commander gave him incredulous looks. "Out of the basement? Are you kidding? Even if he did spare her, she would still be a prisoner, nothing more. I highly doubt that he'd show her any hospitality at all."

Trouble snorted at the commander's words. "Impossible. The captain was one of the most stubborn elves I've ever met, and even if he did spare her or try to show her any kind of hospitality, she wouldn't accept it. Likely even if he had intially spared her, she's dead by now. He would probably have lost his temper with her long ago, and I could only imagine what he would have that mountain man of his do to her. If it was me in that situation, I'd rather be dead."

Both the other fairies in the room couldn't help but agree with that statement. There was silence for a few minutes and then Foaly said, "well, I suppose that makes me feel a little better. At least we know she's not being tortured by him or something."

"Right," Trouble muttered. "She's probably happier where she is now than she would be alternatively. Death was probably her best option from there."

Again silence descended over the room briefly. Then Root spoke. "Okay. Thank you, Captain, you can be dismissed."

It was phrased as though he had a choice, though it was clear from the commander's tone he did not. The other fairies in the room heard this, and Trouble inclined his head slightly before turning and silently exiting the room.

As soon as the door closed behind the captain, Root flopped back down in his chair and said, "back to work, centaur. I want those files down ASAP, understand?"

He nodded. "I'll get right on it, commander."

"Good," the commander muttered. "Now, I've got to do something about all this paperwork..."

**225 PEOPLE! WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF CHAPTERS!**


	15. Its Her Turn

**y'all are so lucky I'm so nice! I now have a computer class in school, so I could be able to check my email at that time! Yay!**

**Oh, and CaptainS10 and I have done a lot of chairs, so...NO HIATUS!**

Artemis and Holly talked very few times over the next couple of weeks. That was because Artemis had "Business Meetings" (As far as Holly knew) that he had to take care of. However, Holly didn't really mind, she just looked out of her window. The sunset skies were fascinating, and the grass looked amazing. She longed to go outside, to breath the fresh (or well mud man polluted) air and feel the grass, not just look at it.

She sighed, an impossible dream she knew, but that couldn't help her from wishing, dreaming, hoping. She was so close to it, that it just made her sad to look at it. That was when she shook her head, Artemis made it very clear that she was not going outside anytime soon.

She was on the verge of crying, something she reprimanded herself for. She was the first female Captain of the LEP, she years working up the "males and females can both be tough" look and this 12 year old boy was messing it up in a matter of a month! But could people blame her? She was kidnapped, drugged, and torture mentally, physically, emotionally, and socially. Holly Short was breaking, something no one would have ever thought of.

Artemis was trying harder and harder to try and be more sociable. He smiled within their talks, and rarely got mad anymore. It was impressive in Holly's mind, that he could improve that much in that little of time. But then again, he had broken her to the point of crying in less than a month.

She was staring out the window absent mindedly and could feel tears rolling down her cheeks when she heard a knock at the door. She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried her best to stop her shaking and her dry throat before she muttered, "Come in."

Artemis opened the door and stepped inside the room, closing the door behind him. Butler and Juliet had taken the locks off the doors when Butler saw how Artemis's behavior had changed dramatically.

Artemis took three steps toward Holly before stopping and raising an eyebrow, "Why were you crying?" He asked before taking the seat next to her.

Holly laughed softly, leave it to Artemis to figure out she had been crying after she tried her hardest to keep it to herself. She had so much practice lately that Butler and Juliet could barely figure out that she had a meltdown the minute before they entered the room. But no, not Artemis.

"I'm fine Artemis." She said, returning to her staring.

"You wouldn't be crying for nothing. Are you scared of me again? I thought we had resolved that?" He said, cocking his head and looking at her face, trying to see if he saw any fear hidden in her features.

She smiled, and looked up at him, "Weeell…." She held out.

Artemis raised both of his eyebrows, "Well what? I thought we were over this?"

Holly sighed, looking back to the window once again, "Its just that, I don't know you. I mean, Ive been here for a month, and I barely know anything about you. How can I not be scared of you if know nothing of you except that you're a criminal."

Artemis stood up, and for a minute Holly thought he was going to leave, but turned and faced her, hand held out. "Let me show you then." He said, smiling. "Or at least let me get you away from that window. I know that's what is making you upset."

How the hell does he know that? Holly thought.

She smiled and took one last glance at the sunset before taking his hand. He led her downstairs, and to the dining room. They sat at the table and Butler put soup in front of them. Holly smiled at the bodyguard before he disappeared back into the kitchen. Holly then stared at the silverware in front of her. There were…two spoons (I did research…WHAT?!) one in front of the plate and one next to it. She picked up the one in front hesitantly because it was smaller and ate, until she looked up and saw Artemis staring at her, amused.

"What?" Holly asked.

Artemis shook his head, still grinning, "You go for the spoon farther away and in front of the plate instead of the one right next to it."

"It's smaller." She replied, feeling small.

"It's wrong."

She took another spoonful of soup, and looked at Artemis, eyebrows raised.

"Are you trying to make me mad?" He said, narrowing his eyes, but still smiling.

"Why would you get mad over a spoon?"

"Its not proper etiquette"

"Oh….." She put down the spoon and for a moment Artemis actually thought she would actually listen to him. Instead she took the bowl and put it to her lips, taking a mouthful straight from the bowl. She put it down and swallowed, putting her elbows on the table.

"You're testing me." Artemis concluded.

"And you're still smiling, so I guess you've meditated?"

"Maybe." He simply replied.

"Ah." She picked up the spoon, the right spoon, and they finished silently.

Holly took Artemis's hand once again and he led her into the next room. The front room, where she had almost died weeks before. She also noticed the stairs leading to the basement in this room. Suddenly she was scared.

Artemis felt her tense up, and looked to where she was staring. He sighed, and led her to the couches in the room. She sat on one and he sat on another across from her. She still stared at the door, which was closer than ever now.

"Holly-"

"Artemis, I'm sorry. I was testing you before and I shouldn't have. I've been so-"

"Holly. " He tried to interrupt.

"Careless lately, and I know you've been so considerate now and I guess that-"

"Ho-"

"Since this is the first time I've seen you since last week, I've become-"

"Holly!" He yelled, grabbing her arms. She let out a short scream that Artemis knew would have Butler coming in the room in a matter of seconds. He had to say something to calm her down. Fast.

"Holly, I'm not going to hurt you. You were teasing before, I know that. Now calm down." He said quickly, looking in her eyes.

Butler came into the room, saw Artemis holding Holly and was about to get him away from her. But he looked into the young boy's eyes and stopped. He had never seen Artemis look at someone like that other than his mother.

Did Artemis care for Holly?

Butler turned around and left, reassured that Artemis wouldn't hurt Holly.

Artemis let go of Holly after she nodded. "Now, I said I would teach you how to meditate didn't I?"

She smiled and nodded again, not trusting herself to speak yet, because she knew that she would say something arrogant.

Artemis moved to sit next to her, talking to her. "Ok, now sit back and try to relax. Close your eyes, draw in deep breaths and let out slowly."

She followed his commands and tried to relax, taking deep breaths.

"Now, picture the most calming thing you can think of. Keep on breathing deeply."

She did, and he said, "Don't open your eyes." He lifted her and was walking somewhere, but she barely noticed. She was happy, picturing being outside, the clouds rolling over the skies and the grass dancing with the wind. It was peaceful, and she didn't want to break the spell she had on herself.

Artemis suddenly stop and sat down, placing her next to him. Holly didn't open her eyes. They just sat there, for who knows how long. She was happy…until her curiosity took her over and she opened her eyes. Faint red stained the walls and floor, and her eyes widened, she started hyperventilating and scrambled back when Artemis laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Stay away from me." She growled.

"Holly calm down, I told you I'm not going to hurt you."

She went over to the door, but it was locked, "Open the door Fowl, I hate being down here."

Artemis crossed his arms, "You were just in here for two hours straight having one of the most peaceful moments in your life."

"I don't care, open the door."

"No."

She screamed for Butler, but Artemis shook his head, "I've told you before Holly, the walls are thick and with the fact that we are underground no one can hear you."

He reached in his pocket and pulled out the same pocket knife he had used to torture Holly. Blood stains still on it. Holly slammed her frame against the door for two reasons:

One: She tried to bust the door down….with no avail.

Two: she was trying to get as far away from him as possible.

Holly, facing the door, tried to open it again. Receiving no results, she turned around to face Artemis, fearing the worst. But didn't get it. Instead she faced Artemis holding out the knife.

"Holly, I hurt you. I hurt you more than I have ever hurt anyone. I'm sorry for that, and it's been weighing me down." She noticed his rolled up sleeve then, "Please just…just do it."

Holly took a cautious step towards him, "Artemis…I'm not hurting you. End of story, now open the door."

Artemis closed his eyes and shook his head, he opened the knife, he put it to where his sleeve and skin met. Holly's eyes widened, but she didn't do anything.

That was until she saw blood.

When she did she rush over to him and snatched the pocket knife away from him, tossing it to the other side of the room. "Darvit! Don't do that Artemis!" She yelled.

"I hurt you Holly!"

"Artemis you saved me, remember that?! I could have died!"

"It was my fault you would have died."

"You were mad before, now calm down yourself! Ok? Too much blood has been spilt already."

"And all of it has been yours!"

"It doesn't matter. Now please just go unlock the door!"

He did as she requested and they went upstairs. They sat on the couches once again, and when Artemis regained his common sense, he turned to Holly.

"I'm sorry Holly. I don't know what came over me. I had not planned that to begin with. I had planned to have a game of chess, but I don't think we will have enough time to do that. I have a business meeting at 7.

Holly looked at the clock, "That's five hours from now. Does it really take you that long to finish?"

Artemis chuckled, "No. But I would rather we do something else." He stood up and offered his hand once again, "Come with me."

Holly hesitated, but took it. They went back to her room, and Artemis closed the door before facing Holly.

"I gave you this room for a specific reason. I suspected that Butler would try to lock the door at first, because my annoyance with you. And well, I'm not going to lie, I gave you this room just in case of revenge. But I can see I don't need it for that anymore."

Artemis walked to the closet, and sure enough for Holly, there was a panel there. Artemis opened it and walked a few feet in it, before turning to Holly, "Lets go…" He paused.

"Explore?" She finished, a small grin forming on her face.

He smiled and nodded and that grin transformed into a smile as well. She went in the closet and followed Artemis into the tunnels. It was dim, with some of the lights burnt out. There were many hallways, Holly was amazed all of them could fit under Fowl manor.

They talked the entire time Artemis showed her how to navigate the tunnels. He told her about when he found out he was a genius, but what really caught Holly's eye was the first business deal he made. It was with a man named Kronski and it included a lemur to sell. When he told her what Kronski wanted with the lemur she stopped in her tracks.

"What?!"

"I needed to sell it Holly, I got diamonds for the lemur which I needed to help someone. Two people actually."

"Help how?" she asked incredulously.

"I…..I cant tell you Holly, I'm sorry. It's just too painful, because I didn't help them. I made it worse."

Holly turned around and went the other way, back towards her room. Artemis sighed, Holly would never understand anything about his family. That's why he tried to avoid the topic. He went to the nearest panel and entered through the kitchen again. He would try to make it up to Holly later.

**135 total! **


	16. The First Sign

**Ok, so this one goes out to Lord of t3e ring...his this was fast enough!**

Holly woke up like every morning, not bothering to turn on her light, and went to her window. Her window. She laughed at the thought. Her only outside connection, the only thing that reassured her that there still was a world out there.

A world she was missing.

All because of mud people.

She should be grateful, she knew that. But these people had taken away her life, her freedom. Why couldn't they just let her go? They weren't getting the ransom. Why were these people trying so hard to keep her alive.

But that didn't matter. Maybe Butler and Juliet were telling the truth, maybe they were doing it out of the kindness in their hearts.

Holly let out a exasperated sigh, going back to look out the window. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Juliet came in.

"Hey Holly, Butler wanted me to ask you why you haven't come down to eaten ever since yesterday morning."

"Im not hungry Juliet." The elf whispered, leaning her head against the glass of the window, feeling the cool morning air that reached it.

"What's wrong?" The blond said, wondering why Holly was acting so strange.

"Nothing."

"Well then, come on. Let's get some breakfast in you." Juliet turned around and walked three steps before looking back. Holly was still perched at the window seat.

"I told you, I'm not hungry." The elf muttered.

"Do you want me to bring something up?"

"No, just… leave me alone." The elf snapped.

Juliet was taken aback by this, but turned and left anyway, Holly got up and locked the door behind her.

Juliet paused when she heard the lock click but descended down the stairs still. She went to the kitchen, where Butler was waiting for Juliet. The blond took a seat and stared at her hands.

"Where's Holly?" Butler said after a while.

Juliet looked up, "Something's wrong."

"What, is she sick…or hurt?" Butler asked, concern spreading over his face. Hopefully it wasn't the latter.

"Not physically."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Butler voice raised a little.

"I'm not sure."

Butler went from behind the counter.

"She locked her door."

"I have a key." He said walking towards the door.

"Dom, she wants to be alone."

Butler was about to walk through the door, but stopped. This was serious. Her sister never used his first name unless it was. Juliet continued.

"The room felt…darker. She told me to leave her alone. She wouldn't look at me and then she lock the door right after I left. She didn't turn the lights on when she got up and the way she sounded…I felt, like she was blaming me for something."

"That sounds like symptoms of-"

"Depression, I know." Juliet finished. Butler returned to walking out the door. Juliet got up and followed.

"She wants to be alone!" She said again, this time louder.

"She needs to talk to someone!"

Juliet stopped and shook her head sadly, he was right. There was a difference between want and need.

Butler knocked on the door, no answer. He knocked again, and when she didn't answer, he got the key. He opened the door to find-

Meanwhile, when Juliet left and after she locked the door, Holly went back to her window, not sitting down. She looked out it. The only thing going through her head was:

I need to be alone. No one knows me, no one cares.

Holly looked at the window one more time, before turning to go through the tunnels. It was dark in there, and she knew Butler would be up any second in an effort to comfort her. She needed to get away.

-one there. He looked back on his hand, which was still on the door handle. If the door was locked, how did she get out. This was serious, he called down to Juliet to go check the rest of the manor, then went to Artemis' study.

Artemis was in the middle of a business meeting. Talking to three people from the world about taking down a enterprise name "Fission Chips." Artemis was thinking about also taking down the businesses of the men he was dealing with, but something in his head stopped him for some reason.

"Yes I believe-" Butler walked in right at the moment where Artemis was explaining his plan, "Butler," He hissed quietly, so the speakers didn't detect him talking. "What do you want? Do you realize how important this is to the family na-"

"I cant find Holly." Juliet panted, she had searched the whole place (That she knew of).

Artemis bolted from his desk chair when he heard this. What was Holly thinking? She didn't know the tunnels like him!

Holly clambered through the tunnels, guided by the faint candles on the sides of the walls. She didn't know where she was going, but she didn't care. Just like no one cared about her…

She stopped in her tracks, what was she doing?! She looked around, not knowing where she was. Then she heard the most horrifying sound-

Artemis moved as quickly and calmly as he could, leaving the Butlers and the meeting behind. He went to Holly's room and went through her closet to the tunnels. He didn't know where she was going, and he figured she didn't know where she was going either. Artemis had noticed Holly's emotions change and her mental abilities darken. He knew she was going into depression, he just hoped it was a passing phase.

-footsteps. Loud ones, like running. She tried to move, tried to get away but her feet stayed rooted to the ground. Her mind abandoning arguing with itself:

"They don't care for you, they took away your life, you freedom, your soul."

"Yes they do, they care for you, they saved you."

"An accident! A pity! A donation! A ransom!"

"A friend."

"A maniac"

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone placing a hand on her arm. Her screams muffled by the oncoming hand to her mouth.

"What are you doing down here?" She heard a voice ask her in her ear.

Holly pulled away from Artemis' grip, turning around fearing the worst. His eyes filled with anger, one hand gripping her hair and the other going for a knife.

But all she saw in his eyes was concern and fear.

"You aren't hurt are you?" He said, looking her over.

"No." She muttered.

"What were you thinking, coming down here? You could have gotten lost or hurt!"

"Wow," She said sarcastically, "Sound like you actually care about me."

"I do Holly, you're my responsibility."

"And that's all I will ever be. A responsibility. Not a friend, a person you take pity on, a person that cant take care of herself."

"Holly, that's not it-"

"then what is it? You said it yourself, I'm your 'responsibility.'"

"Knew that I never should have shown you these tunnels…or that damn window." Artemis muttered, not meaning for Holly to hear, just venting his anger. But she did, and that pulled her mood even darker.

She took in a deep breath, "just leave me alone. And tell Butler and Juliet and anyone else to stay away from me." She said, running the way she came. Artemis shook his head, this was worse than he thought. He climbed through the entry in the pantry, to find Juliet and Butler standing there. They turned towards him, the most confused look on their faces.

Artemis sighed. "Don't…Ask." He said before going his study and slamming the door in a fit of anger.

Holly searched the hallways, finally finding the way to her closet. She went through the door and slammed the door behind her. She sat at her window again, staring out it and resting her head on the cold glass of January soon again.

This all started with a window.

Holly wondered: Did Artemis really give her this window in the kindness of his heart…

Or for a test of her sanity.

If it was the latter…she was failing.

**250 total!**


	17. Responsibility

Holly didn't realize she fell asleep until she woke up.

"Holly," Artemis sighed, relieved. "You're awake. You were asleep so long that for a while there I was beginning to wonder if you would wake up."

The elf's head snapped up at the realization that there was another presence in the room with her. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? This is my room. I could ask you the same question, if I hadn't brought you in here myself."

"Why did you bring me in here?" Holly asked. "I thought I told you that I wanted to be alone. Why won't you grant me even that?"

"I did leave you alone... for a little while. I didn't want to for any longer than to think of something."

"Think of something for what? No, never mind, don't tell me. I don't want to know." She sat up. "I'm leaving."

"Oh no you're not." He pushed her back down onto his bed. "You're staying right here where I can keep an eye on you, Holly. I don't want you doing anything stupid."

"That's right, I'm your responsibility," she spat. "I forgot. Can't lose me, now can you?"

He sighed. "I didn't mean it the way it sounded, Captain. Truly. I consider you more than just a responsibility. Plenty more."

"So what then? Still a hostage, probably, but I already knew that. And I'll probably still be one for the rest of my life, or at least until you all die. Knowing you, most likely after that too. And as you well know, I'm not a Captain anymore."

"Perhaps." His expression was amused, and something she didn't recognize. "And I don't quite understand what you mean by that. Am I really still such a monster to you?"

"Why not? I'm still your prisoner, I'll never be anything more than that, and I know it. I'm a liability, too."

"That's not answering my question."

"What's it matter?"

"I want to know."

She sighed. "Artemis, I really am not in the mood to talk about this. Can't I just go back to my room?"

"No. I already told you, you're staying with me so I can keep an eye on you. With your behavior lately, I can't trust you not to hurt yourself, so you're staying with me until I can figure out why."

She started to ask, "why what," but then closed her mouth, as she already knew. She delfated, sinking back into the pillows and closing her eyes.

Artemis dropped and sat beside her. "Holly? Are you okay?"

Holly didn't even open her eyes. "What, you're going to act like you care about me again?" Her voice was blank, emotionless. "Like you want me to be okay? It won't work; I know the truth. If I died, you'd probably be thrilled. And what I said before still stands, you know. I don't know why you didn't just kill me, or why you don't do it now, and save yourself some trouble."

"Is that what this is about?" he demanded. He suddenly sounded furious. "You know, Holly, if I didn't care, if I wanted you dead, you would be by now. I know things about this manor, know ways to travel though and navigate it, that nobody would ever dream of. Those tunnels I showed you were just the beginning. If I wanted to get to you, to hurt or kill you, I could, and even Butler and Juliet couldn't stop me."

The elf shrugged, not even opening her eyes. "I know. But the only reason you care is because of Butler and Juliet, and their efforts to keep me alive. At least that's partly the reason. I still believe that you have reason for keeping me alive besides that."

"And what would that be?"

"You need me for something," she said, in a simple tone of voice, like she was thinking, 'duh'. "I'm useful for something or another, though I can't tell you what. Whether its now or in the future."

He thought about it. She could be useful later on, even if she wasn't now. But she was wrong; that wasn't why.

"That's sort of true," he admitted. "But that's not why."

She opened her eyes to glare at him. "Don't lie to me, Fowl. I'm not stupid."

"Perhaps not. But you are deluded if you truly believe that." He leaned over her, speaking quietly. He laid his hand on her knee. She shifted uncomfortably, not liking how close they were now, but she didn't try to pull away.

"And let's get some thing straight here. You may not be stupid, but neither am I. You're not telling me the whole truth. You don't want me to tell you all this because you believe I'm lying, but because you believe that I'm telling the truth. It's easier, and less mentally painful, for you to believe that I'm lying, that I don't care about you, then for you to know that I, the human who ruined your life, might actually care for you. None of your friends or family in Haven would do that, would they?"

Holly flinched, and he could tell he'd hit the nail on the head. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and filled with tears, but she didn't say anything. "You want to tell me now, or should I continue?" he asked her softly.

She shook her head, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Fine," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "You win. There, you happy now? I miss my friends, my life, my freedom. All the things you took away from me. I miss Trouble, and Foaly, and Frond help me for admitting this, but I even miss Commander Root." She laughed a little, but there was a hysterical edge to it. "All the things I can't have any longer, the people that I can't talk to, and I want to so badly. And I can't. I'm not allowed, and I probably never will be again. That knowledge is slowly tearing me apart from the inside out." She wiped her eyes again. "And you wonder why I wish you'd just kill me..."

She uttered the last statement before turning on her side and burying her face in his pillows, burrowing into them deeply. Her shoulders hitched gently as she cried silently into the pillows, and Artemis rubbed small, soothing circles on her back. She didn't react to his touch, and the whole time she cried she never lifted her head from the pillows, even when she finished.

He could tell she was tired, but from the shallow, ragged breaths she was taking her could also tell that she was awake. "You can go to sleep,you know," he whispered to her. She said nothing, just shook her head. he sighed. She needed to sleep...

He left the room for a moment, locking the door behind him so she couldn't leave, though he doubted she would try. Sure enough, she hadn't moved when he came back in.

He walked over and pushed up her sleeve. When she didn't move, he stuck the syringe in her arm, emptying its contents into her body. She shuddered once before passing out.

Artemis sighed, walking into his study and sitting down in his computer chair. Okay, he thought, I figured out what's wrong, now I just need to figure out how to fix it. Too bd thats easier said than done...

He grimanced and set to work.

**265 total!**


	18. Surprise

**Ok, sooooo...the chapter...here..Yea. bye**

Artemis sat in his study for a while after sedating to Holly, trying to figure out what he could do to help lift her from her depression. He'd never seen anyone so depressed, except maybe his mother before her depression gave way to insanity.

What if she gets suicidal? he wondered. What am I going to do then? I don't want to have to physically restrain her, but if she gets too much worse I might not have a choice.

Her problem is she misses her old life, he thought. Her freedom. Her friends and family.

But he couldn't give that back to her, so what could he do?

Then he got an idea.

I can't give her old life back to her, but I can give a part of it back. Maybe not her friends and family, but her job, or at least part of it...

Artemis rushed from his study to share the idea with Butler. He would need his help in order to follow through with it anyways.

The manservant said that it was a good idea, and readily agreed to help. He was worried about Holly too, and he thought that this would either end up being a really good idea and would help the captain get immensely better, or immensely worse. "We can only hope for the former," he told Artemis.

The boy couldn't help but agree with that.

Almost five weeks later, it was done. It took a long time to build for Butler building it, but the thing was huge, so it was reasonable.

Eventually, it was finished. His gift was ready.

As soon as Butler came and told him, he wasted no time. He immediately left and went to Holly's room.

He didn't bother to knock; he knew where she was already. Sitting by the window. The same place she always was now.

Artemis walked over silently and sat down beside her.

Holly looked up when he entered, but said nothing, turning her gaze back to the window.

"Hello Holly," Artemis said. She didn't say anything, so he said, "I've got something for you."

He saw the curiosity spark in her eyes, but when she spoke her voice was still tone less. "What?"

He shook his head. "It's a surprise. Come with me and I'll show you."

The corners of Holly's mouth turned down a fraction. "I don't like surprises." Then she turned back to the window.

"That's too bad. You really would have enjoyed this gift... but you're not getting it until you agree to be surprised."

She didn't respond, she didn't even look at him again.

The boy shrugged, trying to look nonchalant and unperturbed. He didn't what to let on how much she was worrying him with the way she was acting. "Fine, be that way then. If you change your mind you know where you can find me." He turned and started walking toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

He looked over his shoulder at her, finding that she had turned slightly around to look at him. "I've got stuff to do," he said with another shrug. "Like I said, if you change your mind you can come and find me."

She hesitated, watching him turn to go again. "Well... if you really want too, I don't care, you can."

He stopped where he was, removing his hand from the knob and turning slowly back to her. A small smile played at his lips. "Okay then. Are you sure?"

"If you really want to..."

She's avoiding the question, Artemis thought. "Fine. In that case, let me just get something to blindfold you with, and we can go."

In response to the sentence, he saw the old Holly return for a moment. The first real emotion he'd seen on her face for a while appeared now. Fear. "Whoa. Wait a second. You never said I was going to be blindfolded."

He rolled his eyes. "It's a surprise, remember?

"Well, yes, but -"

"Holly, this is a big gift, and if your not blindfolded you'll be able to see it before we even get close. Then it won't be a surprise anymore."

Holly bit her lip. After a minute, she just nodded and said, "Fine."

"Fine. But I want this to be as quick as possible, understand?" It wasn't a question.

He nodded. "Yes, of course. I'll be right back."

He turned and went into her bathroom, coming back out a few moments later with a small towel in his hand. He walked over to her,standing her up and then moving behind her to tie the makeshift blindfold over her eyes.

As soon as he laid the fabic over her eyes, he expected her to freak. But she didn't. In the past minute or so, she had slid back into her emotionless state, and from the looks of it, she wouldn't be coming back out of it again anytime soon.

He frowned on realizing this, but did not say anything about it. Instead he just asked, "okay?" When she nodded, he said, "good, then let's go."

Following Artemis's instructions, Holly crawled through the space in the closet to the tunnels. The whole time, he was patient and gentle with her, and he kept her close so she didn't wander off and get lost.

"Alright," Artemis said after a little while, "we're almost there. Ready?"

Holly barely hesitated, but Artemis still noticed. Finally, she said, "sure."

"Great. On the count of three then. One," she heard the sound of a door opening, "two," she felt Artemis's hand on her back, gently propelling her forward, "three."

He untied the blindfold and let it fall off. She blinked hard at the sudden bright light. Then she blinked again, to make sure she was seeing correctly. "Oh Frond," she whispered. She wasn't emotionless anymore, but the complete opposite. She felt an overwhelming amount of emotions now, a few of the strongest being shock and disbelief.

Artemis was grinning wildly at her response. "So you like it?"

All she could do was nod, still staring in wonder at the room around her.

She was standing in a giant glass room, brightly lit from the sun shining through it. Through the glass, she could see the outside world around her. It was beautiful, even more so than she had imagined before.

Around the room was not as beautiful as the outside, though it was good as well. Targets lined the walls, and dummies, every kind of practice target for any kind of solider you could imagine. There were cases of guns, bows and arrows, knives and swords, though way less of the latter two than the two former.

The harshness of the interior almost totally contradicted the soft exterior, except for the small bushes and potted plants that were put against the walls and stands in different areas of the room, and the air. The air was sweet and good, except for the pollution she could detect in it. Surface air. There were no doors but for the one they came through, and she couldn't see any windows, but they had to be in there somewhere, she could tell because of the air.

When she regained her voice, she asked, "what is this place?"

"This is your gym," Artemis said.

"My gym?" she demanded.

"Yes. This is your surprise, Holly. I had this built by Butler for you, and you only. You can use it whenever you want, at any time. It's yours. "

"Why?" she asked. She didn't need to say anymore than that; he knew what she meant.

He didn't want to come out and say that he did it because he was worried about her depression getting worse and her perhaps considering suicide. It would sound more like an accusation then anything, and since he had no way of knowing whether she had actually been considering suicide, that could be bad, especially if she had. It could strengthen her resolve to do it. So he'd made up an excuse, though the thing was that he did not want to lie to her, so he decided to tell her the truth. Just not the correct truth.

"I feel bad about all this, Holly. I've hurt, drugged, and kidnapped you, lied to you, and made you lose everything and everyone you've ever known or cared about. And I am sorry for that. I wanted to try to find a way to make it up to you. So I used what little I knew about you to throw together a big gift for you." He shrugged. "I know there's a lot in here, but I didn't know exactly what you would like best, so there's a little bit of everything. I hope you don't mind."

Holly stared at him, even more shocked now. So much that she was startled out of the depression and into telling the truth. "Of course I don't mind. This... this is amazing, Artemis. I know what it must have took for you to do all this for me, and I'll enjoy it for the rest of my time here. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Holly. Now, go and enjoy your gift." He pushed her forward lightly.

"Okay, Artemis." She stared to walk away, but then paused. "Are you leaving?"

He shrugged. "If you'd like me to. I was going to stay and watch for a while, to... make sure you knew where everything was and... stuff."

He hesitated a few times, deciding not to say what he was originally thinking, "to make sure you don't hurt yourself."

That was the tricky thing about this gift. If this didn't help her get better, then most likely it was because she would get worse, and if she did get worse she would have the opportune place and weapons to take her own life if she wanted to.

Holly just shrugged. "Fine. I don't care."

He inwardly sighed with relief. "Okay."

She turned and walked away, and he leaned against the wall. He stood and watched her for about an hour, then decided to leave. He had had cameras attached to the ceiling to keep an eye on her, and if he stayed for much longer she might start getting suspicious. Besides, he had things to do. He could check on her on the monitors every so often while he worked, he reasoned.

He turned and silently slipped out of the room, leaving the elf to her own devices.

**280 total! Only a select few now the real truth...others think I am innocent...MWAHAHA! **


	19. Dark Thoughts

**Hey guys, sorry this is so late, couldn't update! **

Once Artemis left, Holly waited five minutes before navigating through the tunnels to her room again. What was he thinking? That a few daggers and arrows could fix this?

Granted, it was nice of him and she was proud that he was trying, but she needed her old life back. She wanted to feel the air rush to her skin, she wanted to fly once again.

She wanted to go outside, and Artemis' gift wasn't really helping that much.

Holly sat at her window, looking out into the world. She had been here so long she was beginning to forget what her friends looked like, what flying felt like... What her old life really was.

Holly stared out her window, but she wasn't focusing on the outside any more. No, she was focused on herself, and what she missed ever since that 12 year old boy kidnapped her. She had told Artemis before, but that was only the beginning.

I mean, sure she missed Foaly and Trouble and Commander Root, she missed the outside and she missed her job. But Holly noticed now that she was missing the little things:

Her late awakening and rushes to work,

Her small fights with Mulch when he gets taken in

The rush of running after a convict, even if it was just traffic duty and The person flew a red light.

Chix Verbil teasing her and flirting with her relentlessly everyday.

Oh, how she missed her old life.

And they didn't really care about her over here. At least, that's what she concluded. They were just pretending, to get back at the people, to get back at her, for not paying the ransom.

All pretend.

She didn't even feel the tears fall down her cheeks as she sat there. She rested her damp face against the glass once again. Lies, lies, and more lies. That's all her life was now. No one trusting her, don't you think she noticed the security cameras in the gym?!

Her gym, that's what Artemis called it. More like another way to be teased and taunted by the surface. Another way to know what is out there, know what she is missing. It seemed like another world to her now, like a far off place that she used to know.

Artemis gave her weapons, but all they were doing now we're mocking her. Mocking her of her old life, of something she will never see again, never be again!

Holly sighed, turning around and blocking both the tunnels and her bedroom door. She closed her curtains and turned off the light.

Artemis didn't want to leave her alone?

'Well, now he has no choice but to.' She thought as she sat down on her bed, staring into the dark abyss that surrounded her.

**300 total! The other authors note was a inside joke! **


	20. Suicide

Artemis went from the gym up to his study, deciding it would probably be best to resume his work. The only thing he could really do for Holly now was to give her some time alone-as much as he didn't want to-and of course, watch to make sure she didn't hurt herself.

That possibility, which for all his genius mind, hadn't occurred to him before, was really bugging him. How had he never even considered that she might be contemplating suicide?

Was she actually so depressed as to stoop that low?

_'I sure hope not,'_ he thought._ 'I really wish the possibility would have occurred to me before I practically gave her an arsenal of weapons to choose from. If she really wanted to, I don't see how it can get much easier.'_

Upstairs in her room, Holly's thoughts were drifting along the same lines.

_'I wonder if he considered that I might try to hurt myself while making that for me,'_ she wondered. Then she snorted. _'Of course he did. Its Artemis.'_

But that brought up another question.

_'Is he trying to provoke me? Does he want me to die?'_

She flinched at the thought, and he internal answer her mind immediately supplied was unhelpful.

_'Isn't that answer obvious? How many times has he hurt you since you were brought here? Almost killed you, even? He's probably hoping you'll do it, take that final step so you'll finally be out of his hair.'_

Some part of her, the part that wasn't overwhelmed with the depression, and was still thinking logically, interrupted this train of thought.

_'Don't be an idiot! If he wanted you dead, you would be by now, he said so himself! He saved you before, a good three or four times. If that was the case, he would just be wasting his time, and Artemis isn't one to waste his time. It doesn't make sense. Why would he even bother?'_

Her other part scoffed.

_'Lies! Manipulation! The same stuff he's done to you the whole time! The only difference now is he's being smarter about it, doing it under the guise of caring for you. And you fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.'_

"Hook, line, and sinker," Holly muttered aloud. She stood up. "Of course, that's the truth, it has to be.."

She began to pace the side of the bed, still muttering to herself. "I should have known," she muttered. "I'm such an idiot."

Finally she stopped pacing, instead turning to the closet door. "That's it. I'm done. I can't do this anymore." She pushed through the door and took off up the tunnels.

Artemis was unaware of her intentions, not being able to see her with the lights out and not paying attention anyhow. The only thing to alert him o her even leaving her room was the mic in the gym picking up the sounding of her fast approaching footsteps.

His head snapped up, his eyes now glued to the monitor. He watched her move to the knife case on the right. He took in her shaking hands, trembling lower lip, and wet eyes and immediately realized what she was about to do.

_'Oh no,'_ he thought, jumping up from his chair. _'No, no, no.'_

"Butler!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Butler!"

He tried to sound as calm as possible, bu even he could hear the rising panic in his voice.

Butler threw open the door, gun drawn. "Artemis, what is it? What's wrong?"

Artemis answered as quickly and comprehensively as he could. "Holly. The gym. Now, go!"

The manservant nodded and took off down the hallway. Artemis started to follow, but he was so slow, that after a minute Butler just hoisted him up and tossed him over his shoulder, then kept going.

That minute cost them precious time.

When they got there, it was too late. Holly was collapsed on the ground, unconscious, her blood pooling out around her. A knife was shoved up through her stomach into her chest, buried clear up to about an inch until the hilt.

Butler dropped Artemis, and the boy ran over to check her pulse. It was barely even there, so much that at first he didn't even feel it at all. He scowled.

"She's dying." It was a statement, not a question.

"What can we do? How do we save her?"

Artemis looked up at him, his eyes cold. "We don't."

Butler said nothing for a brief moment. "That's bull. There has to be a way. I know you know how."

"No! Besides, she wants to die anyhow. She'll just do it again, until she finally succeeds in killing herself."

"Artemis." Butler's voice was low and dangerous. "I have worked too hard to keep her alive for her to die now. Now tell me how to save her!"

Artemis clenched his jaw. "Fine. Wrap her up and give her to me. Then go get the keys and meet me in the car."

"Why? Where are we going and how is this going to help her?"

"She's too far gone for us to fix this on our own," he said. "We need assistance. Magical assistance.

We're taking her to perform the ritual."

**315 total!**


	21. Conscience

**Hey!**

Before Butler wrapped up the elf, he looked at his employer.

"Artemis, are you sure that taking her to a ritual site is the wisest thing to do? I'm sure that Juliet can find another acorn, and we could-"

"No," snapped the young Irish boy. "We cannot. Holly is dying, and a 'green room ritual' will not work now. There is a full moon out right now, the perfect time for a ritual."

Butler nodded once before looking back Holly and wrapping her up tightly in his coat, trying to staunch the bleeding. It seemed that was all he was doing these days, trying to keep the little elf from bleeding to death from various injuries.

Butler set Holly in Artemis's arms and left with a sigh. The boy stared at her for a moment, then sighed and shook his head, turning towards the door.

He navigated the tunnels to the front door. Whispering her release in her ear, he went to the Bentley and put Holly in the backseat.

The ride to Tara was excruciatingly slow and painful to everyone in the car. Butler kept looking back at the bloodsoaked elf, and Artemis - who was in the passenger seat, much to Butler's disliking - was staring out the window the entire time. He didn't look back at the elf until they made it to the ritual site, and even then it was just a glance before he told Butler to take Holly out and exited the Bentley.

Butler followed Artemis with the unconscious form of Holly in his arms. He looked around to see if anybody - or any omens -was there. He relaxed when he didn't see anything. The place was deserted.

Butler stopped abruptly when he saw Artemis look on the ground, picking up something. He put Holly down and Artemis knelt next to her.

Putting the acorn in her hand, Artemis scooped up some dirt and put her hand in the soil.

What if this didn't work? The dying elf certainly needed a lot of magic.

Of course it would... wouldn't it?

Artemis took in a shaky breath and closed his eyes, whispering the words to complete the ritual. "I return you to Earth, and claim the gift that is... her right." He looked at Butler, who just shrugged.

Light blue sparks erupted from the ground, traveling along her arm. She was knocked away, rolling around a bit. The magic blue light growing more and more around her by the second, getting brighter. Suddenly the magic took her into the air. He short hair swirled around her still unconscious face as the magic continued getting brighter.

Butler shielded his charge from the magic, raising his own hand to block the light that was illuminating off of Holly.

Suddenly, it all went away. Holly collapsed on the ground, unconscious, and Artemis and Butler looked at each other, exchanging nervous glances before walking towards the elf.

Butler leaned down and took her pulse.

"Amazing," he muttered, looking over at Artemis. "Full recovery."

Artemis nodded, looking relieved. "Yes, but we are lucky she didn't wake up." With one hand on his hip, he wiped his forehead, damp hair flying to the side, away from his face. Looking around, he saw daylight creeping in the night sky. "It's best we go now before it's too late."

Butler smiled before picking up Holly. He shook his head and chuckled softly.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The bodyguard shook his head once more before answering, "You actually looked like a normal teenager for a second."

Artemis stared at Butler for a moment before shaking his head and turning around walking back to the Bentley.

Once at Fowl manor, Butler put Holly in her room and went to talk to Artemis in his study.

"She is surely going to attempt suicide again," the boy said, pacing in front of the manservant.

"Then what do we do? I still can't believe she actually tried to kill herself."

"I can. It's not even like this was just out of the blue, either. All the signs were there, I just believed that she could overpower it. This is all my fault." He sighed, sitting down in his desk chair.

Butler shook his head, "No, it's not, Artemis. You didn't kn-"

"But I did!" he interrupted. "I knew, I just ignored it!" He rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Tell me something, Butler. Why...why is it when it comes to Holly, I can't think right? I just get some messed up and emotional! I can't keep my emotions under control around her..." He paused. "It's like... she brings out my conscience. No, she is my conscience."

Butler's expression softened a little, a quiet chuckle escaping his lips. He thought about reminding Artemis that he was a teenage boy, and Holly was a pretty girl, and it was possible that his hormones were screwing with him over it, but quickly decided that he wouldn't take to kindly to that and instead said, "did you ever consider that maybe it's because you actually care about her?"

Artemis chose to ignore his statement. Butler was being beyond reason. She was his prisoner for Pete's sake!

Artemis got up and began digging around, and when he drew back and Butler saw what he had in his hand, he immediately knew something was up. "What are you doing?"

Artemis sighed. "I'm going to tie her down."

"In her room? Why not just put her in the basement again?"

"Because there are many things that can hurt her in there. She already has hurt herself in there before."

"That was you torturing her, Artemis."

Artemis shook his head, "No, when she was slamming the bed frame to plant the acorn she snuck in with her. You were unconscious at the time. She got some magic, enough to shield and mesmerize Juliet. She tore herself up in the process though, left big red welts on her hands."

Artemis turned and headed towards the door, but Butler still had more to say. "Artemis, I'm still not sure tying her up is the best idea. I'm sure that if we remove everything in there..."

Artemis stopped at the door frame. He glanced over his shoulder. "Holly views the basement as a threat. I just want to make her feel like she doesn't need to kill herself, and the basement being the place where I almost killed her... it wouldn't be the wisest choice."

Butler nodded, and Artemis left.

Artemis went straight to Holly's room. The elf was still unconscious. Artemis shook his head. He didn't want to do this, but it was Holly's only chance of surviving.

The boy sat Holly up, so her back was against the headboard of the bed. He outstretched her right arm and looked at the rope in his hand. He sighed and left the room, returning with two long lengths of silk fabric. He sat back down on the side of the bed and wrapped the fabric along her wrist several times before tying the rope around it, the other end going to the side of the bedpost.

He repeated it with her other arm, and put a pillow behind her head. He pulled the blanket over lap.

For a while he just sat there with her, staring at her with sad eyes, not doing anything. For the first time in almost 5 years, Artemis was on the brink of crying. He shook his head sadly, shaking away the tears.

He composed himself and laid a shaky hand on her cheek.

Holly's eyes suddenly fluttered open. She took one look at Artemis, and said in a raspy voice, "I'm not dead."

Artemis stared at her, eyes narrowed. "No, you're not."

"D'Arvit," she muttered.

Right then and there she noticed Artemis's hand on her face. She tried to move away, out of his reach, but found that she couldn't. She looked to the sides and took them in, then began struggling against her bonds. Artemis chuckled dryly, though her found no humor in the action.

"If you're thinking that you will bleed to death by cutting your wrists with the rope, think again. I put fabric under them, so you can't cause rope burn. And you needn't even think of escaping them either. They're tied so tightly Butler couldn't get out of them." He leveled her with a serious gaze. "I will make sure you do not hurt yourself again."

"How considerate." she sneered, though she did stop her struggling and instead turned her gaze down to her lap.

"My only question..." Artemis paused, using the hand that was on her cheek to grab her chin, forcing her to look at him, "is why?"

"No one cares about me." Holly answered immediately. She turned her head and broke the grasp Artemis had on her. "Especially not you."

Artemis's stomach lurched at her words. He looked away, his jaw clenching so hard it was painful. "Well then. Believe what you want to believe, I suppose. I'll leave you in peace for a while."

And then Artemis left, leaving the elf alone with her thoughts.

Artemis half ran down to the kitchen, where Butler had returned as he went to make the two of them a late dinner. He walked in and sat down, watching the man in silence for a minute, before blurting out, "you need to go talk to her."

**330 total!**


	22. The Second Talk

**Hey! Just want to remind y'all this is a CO-AUTHORED STORY WITH CAPTAINS10! **

Butler looked up from his work. "She's awake?"

Artemis resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment in response and simply said, "Yes. And she's already being unreasonable." He out his hand on the counter, exhaustion seeping over him.

The man sighed and held out a spoon to Artemis, "Alright. Stir the food while I'm gone. I'll be back in a few minutes." The boy nodded and took the spoon, so Butler left.

He walked up to Holly's room silently, wondering what she could have said to make Artemis deem her 'unreasonable' already.

He stopped outside the elf's door, not knocking as he already knew where she was, and peeked in through the crack in the door.

She was propped up on the bed with a pillow behind her, presumably because of Artemis, and her hands were bound to the sides of the head board. But that wasn't what he really noticed. It was her face.

Her eyes were squeezed tightly closed, biting her bottom lip. She was leaned forward slightly, straining against her bonds. Holly tugged and pulled and twisted, but the didn't come loose.

Butler sighed and shook his head, slipping into the room and walking over to sit on the edge of the bed beside her. She didn't even seem to notice that he was there until he reached out and squeezed her knee.

She jumped, a small yelp escaping her lips. She seemed to relax a little when she opened her eyes and saw it was him, but she was still tense.

Neither of them said anything for a long minute. Then she spoke.

"Untie me." She requested, tugging her arms for emphasis.

"No," Butler muttered, looking away, not able to look her in the eye.

"Why?"

"I'm not letting you hurt yourself."

"Why not? Its not like you care what happens to me anyhow."

"I do." Butler said, looking back up at her.

"Not," she muttered, this time her eyes wandering down into her lap, struggling ceased.

He gave her a look. "Really, Holly, I do care. And, though it may be hard to believe at times, so does Artemis."

She scoffed, looking at the wall to get left. "Yeah right. Am I really supposed to believe that?"

"Its the truth."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. But I'm not buying it. If he cared about me, then why did he do that?"

"What?" Butler demanded.

"Everything!" She snapped, looking up into his eyes.

"Artemis... He..." Butler sighed. "Honestly, Holly, I don't know." He confessed.

"Great," she sighed sarcastically, nodding slightly. "Just great."

A silence fell over the room again. But this one, unlike the last one, was relaxed. Or, at least, less tense.

It was Butler who broke the silence this time. "Why did you do it, Holly?"

She blinked, looking up at him. It was obvious she had been deep in thought. "Hmm?"

"Why did you do it?" He repeated.

She started to say "did what?" but decided against it. She was silent for a minute before speaking. "You wouldn't understand." She shook her head and looked back at her lap.

"Perhaps not," he agreed. "But maybe Artemis would."

Her next sentence was practically a snarl, eyes snapping up to his. "I am not telling anything to that monster!"

Butler raised an eyebrow. "I seem to recall you two getting along just fine not even a week ago."

"I... I mean, that..." Holly sighed, obviously at loss for words. "I don't know. That was different."

"How so?"

She frowned, thinking about it. "I don't know," she finally said. "It just is."

He gave her a reapproachful look, and she sighed. "It isn't, I guess... and maybe he isn't as terrible as I originally would have thought. But that doesn't mean I'm comfortable talking to him about that."

"And that's fine. I won't force you to," Butler said gently, putting his hand on her shoulder. "But you need to talk to someone, Holly. I know you're depressed, and you feel like no one understands you, which on some angles may be true, but still... there's better ways to deal with this than... than..."

"Killing myself?" she said wryly, glancing at his hand. "I know. But none that are available to me."

"What do you mean, Holly? If you needed anything, you could have just asked. You aren't a prisoner, but a guest. As such, we are obligated to treat you like one."

"So?" She asked, shaking off his hand.

"So, for future reference, if you ever need anything, come ask me." He paused for a while before continuing, "And also..." he hesitated again. "If you ever need, or even just want someone to talk to, I'm available at practically any time. If I'm not, Juliet generally is."

"Okay. Thank you." She sighed. "But...if I did, anything I say is between us, right? No offense Butler, I don't really think you'd nark on me, I just want to make sure... Its just that, if I wanted Artemis to know that kind of information,I would tell him myself. I-"

"Holly," Butler interrupted, cocking his head to the right. "I understand. Anything you say will stay between the two of us. I won't tell Artemis anything. I promise."

"Good," she breathed. "That's good to know."

A brief silence followed. Unsure of what to say, Butler started to get up and leave, but Holly stopped him.

"Don't think this means anything," she called.

Butler turned. "What do you mean?"

Holly sighed. "I'm still going to fight him. Don't think this little agreement means I'm not."

Butler shook his head. "Holly, its really in your best interests to listen to Artemis. He-"

She didn't even let him finish before cutting in. "No. Absolutely not. I don't care what you or him says or does about it, but I will not give in to that Mud Boy."

"I didn't say give in," the man chastised. "It's more like... a compromise."

She snorted. "Compromise my foot."

Butler gave her a warning look that made her cringe slightly, and chided gently, "Holly..."

The elf shook her head stubbornly.

His expression hardened and he took a small step back in her direction, and she flinched slightly, though she didn't say anything. "Holly, I'm serious. You need to listen to me. It's not like I'm saying that you have to bow down to his every whim, but at least be reasonable. If he tells you to do something for your own health or safety, listen to him, understand?"

She frowned, but said, "fine, I guess..."

"And you have to swear that you won't try to harm yourself again," he added as an afterthought.

She made a face. "I never agreed to that..." She muttered.

"Holly!" Butler yelled, raising his eyebrows.

The elf winced at his sharp tone. "Alright! I promise that I'll listen to Artemis and I swear that I won't intentionally harm myself again. There, happy?"

"You will keep your word, correct?"

"Yes, Butler," she sighed.

"Good." He paused. "Now, I have to go down and take dinner from Artemis before he catches the manor on fire. Are you hungry, Captain?"

"Uhhh, a little," Holly responded hesitantly. "Though I don't really know how well that will work..." Her eyes flickered to the headboard, where her hands were still bound.

He hesitated. "I'll ask Artemis about it," he finally said. "Don't fight with your bonds. I'll see what I can do though."

"Okay." He turned to leave. "Oh, and Butler?" He turned back around to face her. "Thank you. For... for everything." She ducked her head down.

The man nodded, growing a small smile. "Of course. Your welcome, Holly."

Then he turned and walked out of the room, Holly struggled once before giving up and laying her head on the pillow behind her.

**350 total! Sorry! But y'all can do it! **


	23. His Limit

**Sorry that this is late. And that the review count is going up. It's because of writing.**

Butler walked down the stairs to the kitchen where he left Artemis. He could practically smell it burning. But when he entered the kitchen, expecting to see flames askew, he just saw Artemis putting the cooked food onto a plate.

"Make three." Butler said, entering the room.

"Of course." Artemis replied, grabbing another plate. He looked up from his work and smiled at Butler, "I am getting quite better at this."

Butler nodded and took a seat at a stool at the island. He watched Artemis prepare Holly's plate and without looking up Artemis spoke, his mouth a grim slash.

"I'm concluding that she talked to you."

"Yes."

"About?" Artemis prompted, looking up at Butler this time, eyebrow raised.

Butler looked away, remembering his promise to Holly. "Why don't you go and talk to her?"

"Because both of us know that she will not talk to me." Artemis stopped his preparing, putting his palms on the island and leaning on it.

"Give her a chance Artemis."

"I did, and she almost killed herself!" Artemis counteracted.

Butler sighed, not wanting to fight with Artemis. He shook his head and changed the subject. "You do realize her arms are going to get tired in that position."

"She had been subjected to training for years, I believe that she can survive." Artemis paused, looking back down and continuing his work, "Besides, it's more punishment for her. For trying to every attempt something so pitiful as suicide."

"Punishment? What, is she just going to be 'punished' for the rest of her life?"

"I will prolong it for as long as I can. That elf needs to learn her lesson." Artemis's voice raised.

"Sir, with all due respect, that isn't punishment. What you are doing is closer to torture than anything else. And on top of everything, you are the one who provoked her suicide attempt."

Artemis slammed his fists on the island, looking up and giving a startled Butler a heated glare, "By what?! Being nice to her? She did that to herself. All I was trying to do was treat her like a guest, like you requested!"

Artemis picked up the plate and walked around Butler muttering, "I have to go feed the hostage now, because she will certainly never be a guest."

Artemis paused before entering the room Holly was in. He sighed and shook his head, Butler was right, depression is a sickness and the elf had already told him that she would never forgive him.

Artemis opened the door up to find Holly not struggling, but just sitting there with her eyes closed. She looked as if she was sleeping, but Artemis knew better than that. He went to the side of the bed and sat down, calming his figure from his argument with Butler.

"Holly." He whispered quietly, gently shaking her shoulder.

The elf's eyes flew open. She looked up at Artemis, then glanced at the door. "Where's Butler?" She asked, obviously thinking that he was coming back instead of Artemis.

"He's downstairs. Now Holly, I have full intent to feed you. I just need you to answer a few questions first." Artemis started.

"No." She muttered, looking down.

"First I want to-what?" Artemis looked at her, surprised of her answer.

"You heard me, I said no. I am not going to answer any of your questions. I'm not telling you anything."

"Holly please, I am trying to be nice here. Just answer it. Don't you want to eat?" Artemis asked.

Holly thought about this, she was starving. But she didn't want to tell Artemis anything. She remembered her promise to Butler, then remembered her own dark thoughts.

'Nobody cares about you.'

'They want you to a suffer.'

'You are better off dead.'

Holly thought about it, and decided that with Artemis's temper, if she pushed the right buttons he would kill her himself. "I'm suddenly not very hungry." She said, turning her nose up to the food.

"Holly. You haven't eaten in three days. Don't lie to me."

"Don't lie to me either. You don't want me here."

"That's not-"

"Yes it is." She countered. Looking up at him.

"Holly I am just trying to help you."

"Then untie me."

Artemis shook his , "I can't do that. Holly I care too greatly for you."

Like your mother?"

Artemis's head snapped up at that. "What has that got to do with anything?"

"She is locked in the attic, beyond insanity to the point of near death. I want to know, is that going to happen to me?"

"Holly, that has nothing to do with you. You know nothing of her situation."

"Oh, I can guess." She half-laughed sarcastically. "And I know that you did something to her."

"You know nothing." He ground out, obviously getting mad.

"Let me ask you something, how many people are you going to hurt? First your mother, now me. Who else, your fath-"

That's as far as she got before he slapped her. Her head snapped to the side, the sound of the skin connecting ringing in her ears. A trickle of blood going down the side of her mouth.

Artemis exited the room in a huff. Slamming the door behind him.

Holly smiled through the pain and blood. She had found Artemis Fowl's limit.

**Ok, so this week it is going to be different. IT IS MYSTERY REVIEW COUNT! You keep on reviewing, and when you reach the mystery number, the chapter will be posted! Good luck! **


	24. The Only Thing They Agree On

**And we are back in business! **

**Thanks to everyone who PMed me with some encouragement or help, I really appreciate it! **

**Disclaimer: ****_GODS OF DISCLAIMER:_**** You do not own Artemis Fowl! **

**_ME:_****Well, who told you otherwise?**

* * *

Artemis started off down the hall, running from Holly's room. He was struggling to keep himself from letting his temper take over. He seriously wanted to go back too her room and continue smacking some sense into her, but refrained.

He stormed back into the light coloured kitchen and threw himself into one of the high stools, crossing his arms across his chest.

Butler looked up from the vegetables he was roasting on the stove as his charge entered the room. He only had to give Artemis brief once over to be able to tell that their short conversation had not gone well.

The bodyguard sighed and left the stove, occupying a chair next to the boy. He leaned back in the chair, watching Artemis closely. "What happened?"

Artemis closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, his jaw clenched tightly. "Nothing."

"It sure looks like something."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Artemis..."

The boy got up, pushing his chair in with a little more force than necessary, and pointed to the plate that he had made up for Holly. "Take that to the hostage and tell her that if she doesn't eat it, I'm going to move her back down to the basement and force a drip feed in her arm. Clear?"

Startled, the man nodded and Artemis stormed back out of the room. Butler heard the sound of a door slamming somewhere above, and sighed softly.

'What did you say to him, Holly?' he wondered. Then he shook his head, picked up the plate of food, and silently left the room. He walked up the light staircase and through the halls wondering about this.

The first thing Butler noticed about Holly when he entered the room was the big, angry red handprint on her cheek, and the small bit of dried blood on the corner of her mouth.

For a moment he was so shocked he couldn't move. Then the anger kicked in.

He set the food down on the stand by her bed, then set down on the edge beside her and started examining her face. He grabbed her chin suddenly, and she jumped, her eyes shooting open.

"Relax, Holly. "It's just me." He said, not too gently.

"Oh." She kept her eyes on him, unsure of his tone of voice.

Butler tilted her head to the side for a better look, starting to rub the blood off. "What happened?"

"Artemis slapped me."

"I know that much. Now, anyhow. Why did he slap you?" He took his hand from her chin.

Holly shrugged. "I guess he didn't like what I had to say."

"What did you say?"

"That's between Artemis and me, Butler," she said, leveling him with one of her stares that clearly said that she was't telling him anything.

"Holly. I'm not joking. What. Did. You. Say?"

"I'm not joking either. I'm not telling you."

"Artemis didn't want to talk about it either," Butler murmured thoughtfully.

The comment was more to himself than anyhing, not really meant for Holly to hear, but it reached her ears anyway.

The elf laughed bitterly. "That's probably the only thing we agree on, that this is between us."

Butler didn't say anything. That statement had triggered something in his mind.

_'...and I swear to not intentionally harm myself again..'_

Of course. She wouldn't need to if she got Artemis to do it for her by goading him. Could she possibly purposely instagating Artemis? the man wondered. Would she go that far? He peeked at her from the corner of his eye. She was looking at her binds, struggling against them again, just softly this time. But she was smirking a bit, enough for him to notice.

'Considering what just happened, you would think that she'd look a little less happy...' he thought.

Time for a test...

"By the way," Butler said carefully, watching her reaction to each word, "I'm supposed to tell you that if you refuse to eat, Artemis is going to lock you in the basement again and put you on a drip."

"Let him," Holly said, shrugging. "I don't feel at all threatened by him anymore. What's he going to do, torture me again? Kill me? It wouldn't be satisfying for him if I don't react the way he wants me to."

"Are you saying that you'd welcome the torture if it ended in death?" Butler questioned.

"Yes," she said simply, almost smiling darkly at the thought.

Then she realized what she did, and that "almost smile" dropped. "I-I mean, no..."

Butler raised his eyebrows, and Holly looked dumbfounded. "Fine. whatever. Yes, I would." She frowned at him, giving him a look and shaking her head in disbelief. "You tricked me. That was mean."

"I shouldn't have been able to trick you. there shouldn't hve been anything to trick out of you," Butler answered. "You provoked him, didn't you?" His voice sounded disgusted.

"Yes," she sighed. "I provoked him."

"How?" She just shook her head and looked at her lap. He sighed. "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

She shook her head again mutely, her arms still twisting gently in her bonds.

He frowned. Standing up, he sighed again and ruffled her hair lightly, trying to lighten the mood. "Okay. Tell you what. I'm going to go reem Artemis for smacking you, and then whatever the outcome is of that, either he or I will be up again in the next ten to twenty minutes to feed you. Okay?"

Holly smiled slightly and nodded. "Okay. Bye Butler."

"Bye Holly." the manservant said then he walked out of the room. Closing the dark brown door behind him.

**Soooo...it will be...410? Try and get it even again...y'all can do it! **


	25. Why?

**Ok, so I don't own the AF series...boo hoo.**

**So sorry that the chapters are short, but in order to give y'all the chapters on time we wrote as much as we can, then send them as quick as possible.**

Butler walked through the halls to Artemis's study. He was extremely upset at the him, but was calm enough because he did not know the whole situation.

He knocked on Artemis's door softly, and entered after he knocked for the second time. Artemis was at his desk, staring at the dark red wall in front of him. His eyes showed no emotion, but his body itself told a different story. Artemis's hands were clawing at themselves angrily, and his face was red from being mad...and could it be...crying?

Butler laid a hand on his employers shoulder and Artemis jumped, taking in a shuddering breath. The young genius looked up and then at his hands, red and raw from scratching at them.

The bodyguard was confused with Artemis's actions. What could Holly possibly say to get Artemis to break down like this? So he asked the Irish boy and Artemis shook his head and looked away.

"It was an ignorant discussion. She accused me of poisoning my family and I couldn't stand it when she started on father."

Butler nodded. He understood now. He lowered himself next to the desk chair to be eye level with Artemis, hand on the oak wood of the desk "Artemis, I know it's hard. And even harder to fight emotions like this. You have been holding them in for so long now, you have to realize that you are twelve, not twenty one. And taking things out on Holly is not going to fix anything."

Artemis looked at Butler, eyes wide. "I know. But if we cannot fix the situation with mother, I fear it will soon be too late. And Holly is less than cooperative at the moment. I am also having my doubts about healing her..." He trailed off.

Butler nodded, "Yes, she is in a very fragile state. And trust is a tricky thing Artemis. You build it with so much work to have it shatter around you in one fatal error."

Artemis nodded, "I do not know what is wrong with me, especially when it comes to her. I do the opposite of what I normally do."

Butler smiled, not trusting himself to say what was on his mind so instead he changed the subject. "I told Holly that either you or I would be back shortly." The manservant stood up, "would you like to go?"

Artemis thought about this for a moment, unsure. If he went he could apologize, but it could end in leaving in a fit of rage again. Could he take that chance? If he lost his temper he could strike her again, or worse. Give her what she wanted most: Death.

Butler knew what Artemis was thinking, "I already talked to her. I've dont think she will try to make you angry at her anymore."

Artemis nodded slowly and stood, heading for the door. Butler shook his head and chuckled once the door finally closed.

Artemis entered Holly's room cautiously, opening the dark wood door slowly and stepping into the light green room. The elf was staring at the door, waiting to see who was going back. When she saw Artemis, she gulped. Butler told her not to make him mad, and she wasn't going to, no matter how much she wanted to die. But that didn't mean he wasn't still mad at her.

Artemis Sat down at the edge of the bed, smoothing out the green covers. For a while, neither one of them said anything.

"I apol-" Artemis spoke, the same time Holly said:

"I'm sor-"

Holly paused, like Artemis. Both giving each other a moment to start talking again. Holly laughed sarcastically and said, "Wow, Artemis Fowl actually apol-" then she caught herself, remembering what Butler had told her. "Sorry." She muttered.

"Quite alright." Artemis said before putting the plate from the dark bedside table into his hands. Before she could ask what was wrong with him, he took a small forkful and held it up to her mouth.

"You have to eat holly. I believe Butler has told you this before but if I have to, I will hook you up to a drip feed. So either way you are going to eat."

Holly sighed, "Fine." And opened her mouth obediently.

Artemis made sure she swallowed it properly-so she wouldn't choke-and he fed her until the plate was empty.

"Try and get some sleep." He said gently.

Holly nodded and laid her head back into the pillow behind her. Immediately she fell asleep, but Artemis didn't leave for quite some time. He sat there, thinking, looking at her.

Finally, he sighed, shook his head and left the room.

**430 total! Woo hoo!**


	26. Confessions

**Ok, weeeellll...I kinda edited the last chapter, and am working on the others to give more detail *glares at a certain someone* so I don't know whether or not if I should take this story down! What do you think?**

Artemis returned to the elf's room after putting the plate in the sink. He was careful to avoid Butler, not wanting to get caught in conversation with the manservant and not make it back to Holly's room before she woke up.

He watched her sleep for a minute. She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping, peaceful and quiet and something else her didn't recognize for a moment.

Vulnerable. She looked vulnerable.

Peaceful, quiet, and vulnerable. Three words not often used to describe Holly.

Artemis sighed and pulled a brown quilt up over Holly, tucking it around her shoulders and the rest of her small body. She shivered in her sleep, instinctively trying to pull it closer to her, but couldn't as her hands were still bound to the head board. Still sound asleep, she struggled against the bonds, trying to move.

"Now, now," Artemis said quietly, his voice low and soothing. He pushed her back down on the bed, trying to halt her struggling. "Don't struggle. Its just a waste of your time and energy." He stroked her face, then he sighed. "And she can't hear me..."

Suddenly, her voice thick with sleep, Holly opened her eyes and spoke. "No, I can hear you. Now, at any rate." She yawned, trying to sit up and laying the quilt fall off her in the process.

"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't wake you," Artemis said.

"Ah, its okay. I'm not even sure if it was you or the dream..." she trailed off. Then she seemed to realize what she did, and she froze.

"What dream?" She didn't respond. "Holly?"

"Nothing," she said, though she sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than him. "It was nothing. Just a nightmare."

"What kind of nightmare?" Artemis studied her face. "Holly. Tell me."

"No."

"Holly, come on. I can't help you get over it if you don't tell me."

"I don't want to tell you," she said stubbornly.

"Why not?" he pressed.

"Because." She turned her head away, looking at the brown door, the light green walls, or even the brown framed window.

"Because isn't an answer, Holly," the boy said, starting to get irritated, grabbing her chin so she would actually look at him. "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to!" she yelled at him, pulling away from his grasp. "I don't want to talk about it! Not with you, not with Butler, not with anybody here! It's just..." her voice dropped a little here, "it's just too painful."

She rolled over, facing away from him. Her next words, when she spoke again, were so quiet Artemis could barely hear them.

"I- I can't, okay? And you can't make me. This is the only time I'm going to say anything about it, so if you're going to keep bothering me about it, you might as well just leave. I'm not talking. And I don't really feel like being interrogated right now anyhow, and I really don't want to deal with you if you keep acting like this."

"Acting like what?" the boy demanded, his voice cold and harsh.

"Like that!" she exclaimed. "That attitude! You always do that! One minute we'll be talking and you'll be fine, then the next you get all mad and mean and start interoggating me relentlessly again! I mean, I know I'm still a prisoner, and thats all I'll ever be here, but Frond! I just don't understand why you, even when everyone else goes out of the way not to, insist you have to treat me that way."

"I don't quite understand what you mean," Artemis said. "I see no difference in the way I treat you and the way I treat everybody else."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"So you're saying that you kidnap everybody else? Ad lock them in the basement and torture them?"

He clenched his jaw. "All things I've done in the past, not to mention things I did when I didn't know you that well."

"You still don't know me that well," Holly muttered. "But fine. How about this little arrangment?" She nodded to her bound wrists. "Do you tie everybody else to their headboard's?"

"No but," he added, "everyone else isn't suicidal."

She didn't respond to that. She didn't have an answer.

"Exactly," the boy said sharply. "No witty response to that, is there?"

She shook her head. "No," she whispered brokenly.

"Exactly, because its true. You can't argue with the truth, especially when its cold, hard, logical facts. Though I can't say logical lately." Then he stopped and took in the dejected look on her face and sighed. He perched on the edge of the bed beside her, sitting on the dark green covers, laying a hand on her knee.

Holly yelped as if he'd slapped her again when he touched her. "Forget it, I'll stop arguing," she whimpered, pulling away, moving over as far from him as she could in her state.

"Holly," Artemis said softly, "breathe." He paused and waited until she complied a few times, taking deep breaths in and out, before continuing. "I'm not going to hurt you. Truthfully, you do have a point. But that's only part of what I came in to discuss."

She gave him a confused look, uncringing slightly and rolling back over towards him. "Why did you come back up here so soon?"

"There's some things we need to talk about, Holly. Among them is the reason for those little things there." He nodded at the ropes on her wrists. She flinched slightly, and the boy sighed. "Look, I know that you don't trust me, you might not even like me, and that's okay. But at some point or another we're going to have to start communicating this stuff. Since the fact that we haven't yet been seems to be causing issues, we're going to start now. Okay?"

Holly took a deep breath again, though it was shaky. "I suppose so. Do I have a choice?"

He shook his head. "Not really. It had to be done. The only options are we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. And I have no problem with doing it the hard way if you refuse to cooperate with me."

"What's the hard way?" she asked quietly.

His face darkened. "You don't want to know. It won't be pretty, that I can promise you." He looked at her face, searching for any signs of resistance. "We're not going to have to do it the hard way, are we, Holly?" His voice was dangerously low.

"No," she squeaked out. It came out sounding more like a question than an answer.

"Good," he said, voice becoming lighter, kinder, gentler. "This way, it will be a lot easier."

He took a deep breath. "I know what you were doing earlier, why you said what you said. That's why I wasn't as upset as you thought I would be. I realize now that you were instagating me, and I'm sure you figured out by my reaction that my father is a very sensitive subject for me."

Holly smirked wryly. "Yeah, I definitely noticed."

Artemis touched her shoulder gently. "Yes, I'm sure you did. Being suicidal and all, I bet that after finding my limit you would have noted it for future use. I will only ask you this once; please do not go down that road with me. You would not want to see where it would lead, with any of my family."

"I care for both my mother and father immensely, but my father is just a more touhy subject for me because I no longer have him with me as-"

"He's dead?" Holly gasped.

"No," Artemis said irritably, "I was getting to that. He, like me, was a criminal. He was trying to move our empire into legitimate enterpises when he was taken out by some people who were unhappy. He's not dead though, just gone."

"He's disappeared," Holly clarified.

"Yes."

"How long ago?"

"I was eight, Holly."

She nodded, then hesitated before speaking again. "Artemis... I don't know. That's a long time to be gone and still be-"

"No!" Artemis interrupted. "He's alive. I know it. After all, Mother is still alive, and she went into a depression just mere months after. And if my father returned tomorrow, she would be fine the next minute."

"T-that's what's wrong with her?" Holly asked, shocked.

"Yes."

"Oh," she gasped. "Artemis, I'm so sorry! I really... I wouldn't have said that if I knew..." He looked up at her, and she had to bit her lower lip to kep him from seeing it trembling.

He still noticed. He scooted closer to her, catching a falling tear and wiping it away. "Don't cry, Holly. It's okay, really. You didn't know." The elf's tears only continued to fall, and faster now. Artemis could tell he wasn't really helping. If he wanted her to stop... well, even for all his genius brains he couldn't think of a solution to that.

As it turned out, Holly was the one who did that. She turned her head and wiped her eyes on his shoulder, and that's when inspiration struck him. Quickly, before she could react, he wrapped one arm around her back, and placed the other against the back of her head, pressing her tearstained face into his shoulder.

"Artemis." She was trembling against him.

"Shh..." he soothed weakly. He knew he should say something, but he wasn't sure what would help and what would make it worse. I was never good at giving comfort, he thought, sighing inwardly.

"Its okay. I'm not going to hurt you, and I'm not mad at you anymore either. If I'm being honest, that whole mishap was my fault. I shouldn't have been so elusive aboutt this stuff, and you would have known the truth and not said any of that stuff."

"No offense, but you'e kind of already hurting me. This is a sort of awkward angle for my arms to be bent at..."

"Oh, sorry." He shifted slightly closer, then suddenly he got an idea. He leaned down and murmured softly in her ear.

"Artemis, I am crying so much I can't even see straight," Holly whispered. "How...?"

"Okay, okay. Sorry." He reached over and started unknotting the ropes on her hands, the promise he made if she complied she was not suicidal.

As they fell off, Holly fell to the right, and any of her weight Artemis was not supporting already fell onto him. He sagged under it for a minute, then righted himself and her against him.

For a moment they sat there silently. Artemis start to say, "Better now?" then he heard her light snoring. "Holly?"

There was no answer from the sleeping elf. He sighed. He pulled her down, trying to lay her down and then get away, but she had a death grip on his black suit jacket. Sighing, he laid down with her, deciding to wait it out until she woke up. He wrapped his arms around her for comfort.

But after a half an hour past an she didn't wake, he fell asleep too. And that's where Butler found them when he came to check on them. Smiling, the bodyguard shook his head and closed the door.

**450 total! **


	27. Loving Thoughts and Violent Acts

**Ok ok, here! **

Holly woke up in Artemis's arms. For a while she just stayed there, feeling his warm embrace. She was too scared to move, to try to see that her arms had regained circulation. She didn't want to wake up the sleeping form of Artemis next to her. Then she realized something:

She felt safe.

Safe in her enemy's arms.

No, not enemy. Not anymore. She was safe with him, he didn't want to hurt her anymore.

She looked at him, he looked so peaceful, not something she would really ever describe him as.

She felt a pang of guilt hit her. This boy had lost everything. His mother, his father all at once. It wasn't fair. He didn't deserve this.

Then she realized. The lemur he stole when he was younger...it must have been to help his mother and father.

Oh, she was terrible.

She felt so much guilt, sadness, and sympathy for the young boy that she felt as though she were to cry, to weep out of existence.

Suddenly he stirred, opening his eyes. There were a few moments of silence before he realized he was still holding her.

"Oh, I'm sorry Holly." He said, starting to unwrap himself from her.

"No don't." She quickly said, shivering from the sudden coldness hitting her. "Please don't Artemis."

He heard the quivering in her voice and decided that she was still upset. He held her again, whispering comforts in her ear, but they only made her cry worse.

Soon, she was beyond comprehension, to the point where Artemis couldn't understand what she was saying and trembling so much Artemis thought she was having a stroke at first.

But she wasn't. She was just upset, upset at herself. The past few days had been terrible for her. What with the suicide attempt, and being so terrible to the main person that knew she was alive.

"Holly, if you don't stop, I am going to have to assume the worst and that you are going to become suicidal again. Thus tying your arms back up."

Holly shuddered involuntary, there was the cold voice, warning her once again. Artemis confused her so much. But then again, he had a right to be cold in the hottest pit of hell.

Holly pulled away from Artemis, wiping away her tears with sore arms. She looked over at her window, then at Artemis. Her eyes pleading.

Artemis sat up on the bed, knowing what Holly wanted. He sighed, and nodded. "Go ahead."

Holly's face lit up silently as she went to her window. She sat down and stared through it like the first time he let her sit there.

Artemis got up, going to sit down next to her. They were quiet for a while, both of them just looking out the window.

Artemis had looked out this window for the past 12 years. He had loved looking through it because it had so much scenery from around the manor. But now, he realized that that beautiful scenery had always been incomplete. Sitting beside Holly, it felt complete, he felt whole.

Artemis stood up, shaking his head. It was spinning with emotion. She was so much older than he in elf years.

But in human years, it would only take about a decade to catch up with her.

Impossible, he couldn't like her! She was his prisoner! His hostage!

No...his guest.

His friend.

His could-be lover.

Artemis felt like a mess, he was only 12 years old! He should be starting puberty years from now! He shook the feelings away, pushing them down.

He composed himself, daring his mind not to stare at her face like a fool.

"Holly, you do realize that you can not, and will not, go in the training room. I'm sorry, but I think that after what happened we can not risk that anymore."

Holly snapped back to reality. "Oh, yes." She nodded, smiling with a hint of sadness. But it was mostly out of understanding. "I get it. I'm fine Artemis. But if you want to make sure, I suppose I can wait a while until you reach the conclusion that I am not suicidal anymore."

"Well then. I suppose you and your...uh, window," Holly smiled at that, "have some catching up to do, so I will be back later."

Artemis was about to turn and leave, but Holly stood up, taking one more glance at the window before turning to him.

"Actually, may I go and talk to Butler?"

Artemis sighed of relief, the window phase was over finally. "Of course Holly, you are a guest. Like I have said, no going near Windows or main doors outside of this room."

Holly nodded, and she left the room, going to talk to Butler. She went a different way from Artemis, and was about to go down the staircase when she got an idea.

She looked around, making sure Artemis wasn't secretly watching her. She snuck to the stairs that went up, she took the first step, flinching when it creaked. She quietly went up the rest of the steps, occasionally looking over her shoulder to make sure that Artemis wasn't there.

She opened the attic door, one thought going through her head:

'I can help her, I can heal her.'

She inched over to the bed, where a sleeping Mrs. Fowl was. She put her hands up, ready to let her magic take its course, when a hand came from behind her and grabbed her hand. The other going around her mouth.

She looked up to see Artemis looking her. She was scared, the last time she was up here she was tortured to the brink of death.

But Artemis's eyes were soft, her knelt down so he was next to Holly and so he could whisper in her ear.

"Don't Holly." He said, "I can't..." He trailed off, sadness folding over him.

She didn't say anything, the couldn't. Not with his hand over her mouth. Suddenly Mrs. Fowl woke up, and that hand on her mouth disappeared. It placed itself on her shoulder, pushing her in back of him so the older woman wouldn't see her.

"Mother?" Artemis asked tentatively.

Mrs. Fowl's eyes were sharp and awake all of a sudden. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Artemis choked on her words, but composed himself quickly, "Its Artemis mother, your son."

"I don't have a son. Now if you would please leave, my husband should be back soon and he is a very important person."

"Please, mother. Don't do this." Artemis pleaded her to remember, pushing Holly to the door.

"Get out!" She screamed. She grabbed a vase on the bedside table, throwing it in his direction. Artemis put his arm up, and the glass vase broke on that, shattering to a thousand pieces. Some flew against his skin and cut him, blood running down his arm.

Holly was frozen in place, she couldn't believe what was happening. She didn't know what to do until Artemis pushed her, more than lightly, towards the door.

"Go!" He cried. Mrs. Fowl already picking up another object to throw at "The Stranger."

Holly and Artemis exited the room, breathing heavily. Holly was so scared and confused she was on the brink of crying again.

They went down the stairs and sat at the bottom step, just sitting there. It was Holly that spoke first.

"Why..." She started shakily, "Why wouldn't you let me heal her?"

Artemis shook his head, "it's not that I don't want her to heal. I am just afraid of the consequences. What if it doesn't work, or that she would not approve of my actions for the last few years."

"And why you have an elf in the house." Holly added, calming down.

Artemis chuckled and nodded, "Yes that too."

Holly glanced back at the door upstairs. "It's gotten really bad Artemis." She put her hands up and started to heal Artemis's bleeding arm.

Artemis closed his eyes, "I know. Most of the time, she believes I'm me, but sometimes she believes I am stranger, or my grandfather."

"Grandfather?" She asked, bewildered. She threw Artemis a look.

"Yes, apparently I have a 12 year old grandfather." Artemis joked.

Holly laughed, but then realized something, "That was actually a joke. From Artemis Fowl the second." The elf smirked, "Who are you and what have you done to the real Artemis?"

Artemis chuckled, "He's in the basement. Despite what you think, I'm not inhumane Holly."

"You just pretend you are." Holly concluded.

Artemis changed the subject. "So," he said, standing up. "You still want to go talk to Butler?"

Holly nodded, taking the boy's outstretched hand. He led her to the kitchen and left, letting the elf talk to him by herself.

**490 REVIEWS! Phew! **

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	28. There's Nothing Between Them

Holly watched Artemis turn and walk away, then entered the kitchen where Butler was.

The bodyguard didn't look up when she entered, just assuming it was Artemis as he figured even if Artemis had untied the elf he hadn't let her out of her room.

"Artemis," he began, but Holly cut him off.

"Guess again," she told him.

"Holly?" He spun around. "Holly! You're free!"

She smiled slightly. "I don't know about free, but I'm untied," she agreed. "And I finally have circulation in my wrists again!"

The manservant chuckled softly. "Yes, and I imagine it feels rather good after so long." He paused. "Anyhow, how'd you get untied?"

"Artemis let me out," she answered, taking a seat a the table. "I managed to convince him I wasn't suicidal anymore, or at the very least sane enough I wouldn't stab myself again."

Butler nodded indulgently. "A definite improvement. I just wondered if it had anything to do with you sleeping with him."

Holly's head snapped up. "What are you talking about?" she demanded.

Butler rolled his eyes. "Go ahead, try to play innocent with me, but I saw you two snuggled up together up there, and I have to say you looked pretty comfy."

"I was," she murmured, then she seemed to realize what she said. "Hey! What were you up there intruding for anyways?"

The manservant raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I was only checking to making sure he wasn't beating you senseless again or something. He was up there with you an awful long time; I couldn't help wondering why. Excuse me for being concerned for your safety!"

"Well, thank you for your concern, but even if something had happened between me and Artemis, it still wouldn't be any of your business," Holly snapped.

"Your welcome." He paused. "And Holly... I have to say, I approve. Just as long as your being careful. I mean... He is still twelve years old."

"Butler!" Holly exclaimed, her face turning tomato red in an instant. "I am very aware of that, and trust me, I never even thought of doing something like that with that Mud Boy... Until now..." She wrinkled her face in disgust. "And either way, it didn't happen! Nothing happened! I swear! Now please, drop it, forget about it, and do not even think about bringing this up to Artemis!"

"Do not bring what up to me?" the human asked as he entered the room.

"Oh D'Arvit..." muttered Holly.

"I heard that, Holly," Artemis informed her as he walked to the other side of the room and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. "Now tell me: what is it that is not supposed to be brought up to me?"

"Ask Butler," Holly said. "I might puke if I have to repeat it..."

"Oh, don't be so over dramatic," the boy scolded her before turning to his bodyguard. "Now what is this about? I insist you tell me."

So Butler told him. Artemis choked on the mouthful of water and had to spit it out in the sink.

"That is lucredious! Whatever gave you such an idea?" He demanded, after recovering from a coughing spasm and wiping his mouth on a towel.

"Well, let's see, perhaps the fact I went in there and found you two snuggled up under the covers together on Holly's bed!" Butler said, narrowing his eyes.

"Butler, I assure you, no such thing happen. Holly and I are not in any relationship quite so intimate," Artemis said. "And contrary to what you may believe you say, nothing like that happened. I went in and talked to her, and I was merely comforting her when she fell asleep on my shoulder. I had already untied her, and when I tried to lay her down so she could sleep I found that she had ahold of my jacket, so instead of waking her I laid down with her. She needed the rest." He stopped. "That's all that happened. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now, in the future, please try not to jump to such rash conclusions. And you," Artemis said, turning to Holly. "Such things do not need to be hid from me. I don't care if you find them embarrassing or not, I need the truth and only the truth. Hear me?"

"I wouldn't technically being lying..." Holly argued hesitantly.

"Holly, a lie by omission is still a lie. Now, answer me, am I clear?"

"Yes," the elf sighed.

"Good." He took a seat beside her. Then, changing the subject completely, he asked, "how long until the food is done, Butler?"

Butler studied the food in the pot before him briefly, then said, "now, actually. Would you mind getting me some plates?"

"Sure," he said with a shrug. He set his water down beside Holly as he got up. "Captain, are you hungry?" he asked, pausing halfway through getting the plates out.

"I- I'll take some," Holly said quietly. "Thank you. But please don't call me that again."

Artemis frowned. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. Next time I'll think more about it before I speak.." He trailed off when he saw Butler looking at him. "What?"

"You. You say you have no feelings for Holly, and yet she is probably the only person I've ever heard you say such a thing to."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one, you actually apologized. And two, you just said you weren't thinking when you spoke to her. I have never known you not to be thinking before, ever, even when you didn't had to be thinking you were. It's just surprising... And very contradicting to what you are actually saying."

The genius scowled. "I don't know why you keep jumping to conclusions today, but it's really annoying," he informed Butler, then took the plates and silverware and started setting the table.

Butler chuckled.

Artemis paused halfway through setting the table. He was about to set the silverware in front of Holly, but thought better of it before he could finish. "If I give you the knife, are you going to try to hurt yourself?" he asked her.

She scowled. "No, Artemis. I already told you, I'm not suicidal anymore. Maybe still depressed, but not suicidal."

"Good." He laid them down in front of her, beside her plate, and finished setting the table. Then he returned to his seat.

Butler brought the pan over from the stove with a part of pot holders, then place the steaming object in the centre of the table. "Careful, it's hot," he warned, as if they couldn't see it.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Holly drawled, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "We couldn't tell."

"Holly," Artemis said again, frowning disapprovingly. "You should really hold your tongue."

Holly just shrugged.

The boy sighed. He knew she wasn't going to listen, and he couldn't bring himself to yell at her and make her listen, because truth be told, he was relieved she was acting like this. She sounded more like the elf he had met in the field that first night, more like her old self, now than she had since he'd moved her up from the basement, and even then. It made him realize that ah might actually, finally be out of her depression.

So he just shook his head and turned to his food.

Butler grinned inwardly, shaking his they say there's nothing between them...he thought before picking up his fork.

**530! GO! **


	29. Serious Doubts

**This did get OOC...So don't go and tell at me...**

**Do not own Artemis Fowl!**

Foaly was tracing some rogue goblins when Commander Root came in...looking like a mess.

Julius's hair was in a disarray, sticking up all over his head. His suit was wrinkled and he had bags under his eyes. He was slouched from sleepiness.

He flopped into a chair nearby and Foaly turned around in his specially designed chair.

"Julius, you look like a troll just mauled you." Said the centaur, probably the only person allowed to say that in Haven about the commander.

"Don't call me Julius centaur, and I know I'm a mess." He replied grumpily, crossing his arms and tilting his head back slightly, only to find that his neck creaked.

"What's the matter Commander? You look like you haven't slept for days."

"That's because I haven't!" He said, getting up and stomping around the room, his face getting redder by the minute.

Foaly tried to suppress the oncoming eye rolling, but failed. Luckily Julius didn't notice so Foaly covered it by looking around the white ops booth, lined with computers and gadgets.

"Sir, I know that this whole goblin riot is very stressful, but-"

"It's not those damn goblins D'arvit!" He said, pounding his fist on a nearby metal desk, causing Foaly to wince. He took a moment to calm down and return to the chair, head in hands. "It's Captain Short."

Foaly sighed from just the mere mention of the deceased fairy. "What about her?"

Root shook his head and sighed. "At first...I thought I could handle the fact that she was gone. Now...now all I can think is that it's my fault."

"What?!" Foaly said incredulously, "Of course it's not your fault Julius!"

"I was the one who told her to go to that ritual site." He argued, completely ignoring Foaly. "And I was the one who told her to recon that troll, the one who-"

"Julius!" Foaly interrupted the elf, standing up to put more emphasis on his point. "You said it to me before. Holly is a grown elf, and a Captain! She knew risks of mud people and she needed the magic! You want to know something? Holly hadn't done the ritual on the odd end of a decade! She was a ignorant, stubborn, and instinctive elf...and that is what made her one of the best LEP officer's in the business. She didn't do what she was told, and usually always succeeded."

Julius shook his head and sighed, looking at the decorative acorns on his uniform, "I know that. But, she didn't even have a proper recycling ceremony..." The Commander trailed off. Then got up abruptly, going to the exit of the ops booth.

"Where are you going Commander?" Foaly asked, finally remembering regulations. He took a few steps with Julius, but didn't go very far before stopping.

The elf stopped, turning his head slightly to the side to look back at him a bit, "I'm going to get Short's body." He said, before starting to walk again.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. What?" Foaly said, stopping The Commander once again, "You can't go and see Fowl! It's against the book! What do you think you're doing?"

Julius turned around, looking the centaur dead in the eyes and contemplated. What was he doing? Holly could already be gone by now. But then he thought...

"Following my gut." He replied, turning back around. He walked to the door saying, "And you better not say anything to the council centaur. I'm just going to the surface for the ritual."

Foaly shook his head and turned around, but nonetheless he was smiling. Even if Captain Holly Short was dead, she had made an impact on one of the most thick headed Commanders in LEP's history.

**550 Go! Sorry about before, I used a different copy and paste! SORRY! **


	30. The Body

Commander Root circled around Fowl Manor, scanning for heat signatures inside. He found four all throughout the house, three on the same floor and one in the very top o the house, in what he assumed to be an attic.

He briefly wondered if perhaps the one in the attic could be Captain Short, then dismissed the thought. He wouldn't have risked moving her, he reasoned.

In one last desperate attempt, he scanned the basement for heat signatures. It came up stone cold, and he sighed, starting his descent towards the front double doors of the manor.

Julius landed hard, frowning as he stared at the door and front of him, then paused. Here goes nothing, he thought, pressing the doorbell.

Inside the manor, a few minutes before, Artemis and Holly were still finishing up eating, and Butler had began the dishes. Suddenly, Holly put down her fork and asked, "Artemis?"

"Yes?"

"Can I go to the gym after this?"

The boy paused, chewing slowly as he thought of an answer. Finally, swallowing, he stood up and shook his head. "I don't think that's such a good idea, Holly." He walked over and dropped his plate in the right side of the double sink.

"Oh, come on! I won't try to hurt myself again, I swear! You can even come watch me if you want!" Holly said, desperately trying to change his mind. "Pleeeeaaaaase?"

Butler chuckled, and Artemis threw him a look. The manservant just shrugged, immune to his mood swings after so long.

"Fine," Artemis relented quietly. "But I'm coming with you. And I will be watching you the whole time, so don't even think that you'll succeed in trying to hurt yourself again. You won't blink without me seeing it. Understand?"

"Yes," Holly sighed, rolling her eyes, but she couldn't fight the smile tugging at her lips. She stood. "Can we go now?"

The boy gestured absentmindedly with his hand. "Yes, yes. I'm right behind you. Go." She ran out the door.

Butler chuckled again. Artemis ignored him as he followed Holly out the door.

Artemis was just catching up with the speedy elf when the doorbell rang. He paused mid stride, turning back the other direction, towards the front door.

"Don't answer that, Artemis," Butler called for the kitchen. "You have no idea who it could be. I'll get it in a minute."

The human rolled his eyes. "It's fine, Butler."

"No, it's not. For all you know, there's an assassin out there."

"Hardly. I don't think any assassin would have bothered to ring the doorbell," he argued.

By now, he had reached the door, and had his hand on the handle. He spared a glance at Holly to say, "go on ahead. Just don't take any weapons out until I get there." Holly nodded and disappeared around the corner, and Artemis closed his eyes and mouthed a silent prayer that she actually wasn't suicidal anymore before throwing open the door.

He blinked a few times, looking around for a moment and then down towards the ground at a sound like a throat clearing. But all that was there was empty air... Or so it seemed.

"Fairy. I know you're there. Unshield or face the consequences."

Instantly, there was a little man that appeared before him, his face rapidly turning red. "Was that a threat, Fowl?" the commander demanded.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Commander. I didn't expect to see you again, especially so soon. What can I help you with?"

He sounds so calm, and acts like we're just old friends or something, Julius thought. Like he didn't murder one of my best officers in cold blood barely a year ago.

"I want my officer's body, Fowl," Root growled.

"Really? And you couldn't even ask nicely for it?" He sighed. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Commander, even if you had asked in a way that suggested you had some manners."

"Why not?"

Artemis's mind whirled as he searched for a logical excuse. "She has already been buried, and returned to the Earth. I saw no reason to leave her body to rot in the basement," he said.

"So I'll dig her up. I have time before I need to return to Haven," the commander argued. "Tell me where she's at."

Artemis scowled. "If I wanted to tell you that, then I would have," he said. "Now, if that is all, I have some things to attend to, so-"

"No, that is not all. I want my Captain's body, and I'm not leaving until then. And believe me, Fowl, staying here one day won't b-"

Then suddenly Holly's voice came drifting around the corner. "Artemis? What's taking so long? I thought-" Then her heard poked around the corner, and she blanched as she took one look around the room. Her footsteps echoed as she started to back away again, but Artemis knew it was a lost cause. Root had already seen her.

"Freeze, Holly," Artemis said. The elf froze, as ordered, her footsteps abruptly cutting off. "Get back here."

Slowly, Holly back up around the corner to face them, taking baby steps down towards the human. "Yeah?"

He didn't answer, just wagged a finger at her.

Root was still staring at her in shock, one thought running through his head continuously. She's alive!

"Holly, you're alive!" the commander blurted. "How...?"

Holly opened her mouth to answer, but didn't get to. She was close enough now that Artemis could reach her, and instantly his one hand was over her mouth and the other was around her neck in a choke grip, pressing down on her windpipe.

"How she is alive, as of this moment, at least, doesn't matter. What matters is that nobody else finds out about this," Artemis interrupted.

"But-"

"But nothing! If a single living soul finds of about this, then there will be one less living soul in the world, because I will kill her," Artemis warned. The pressure on her windpipe, tightened. "Don't make me hurt her, Commander, just give me your word."

"That I won't tell anybody else that she's actually alive? Why not?"

"Because I happen to know some people in the Lower Elements cannot keep they're mouths shut, and if the word of this gets out than the Fowl family won't be taken seriously anymore."

"Foaly wouldn't tell anybody," Holly gasped. They all looked at her.

"Yes, that centaur is precisely the person I am talking about, one of them, anyhow, and he wouldn't be able to. You know it. Now be silent!"

Holly and Root locked eyes. Just give him your word, she mouthed.

Root exhaled deeply. "Fine. I agree— I mean, I give you my word I will not tell anyone. Now stop depriving her of air!"

Artemis nodded and dropped Holly, who fell to her knees, breathing in deeply and clutching her throat. The instant she had enough air in her lungs, she was up on her feet, practically throwing herself out the door against her ex-commander. Her feet stayed firmly planted inside the threshold, but her body was leaned out of it as she embraced him tightly.

Before, the very thought of being that close to her commander would have repulsed her, especially in an embrace, but the shock and happiness of finally seeing one of her own people again overtook her briefly and she couldn't stop herself.

The commander stood there for a moment before patting her back awkwardly. Then Artemis growled, "get back in the manor, Holly."

Quickly, the elf complied by the orders and her magic, but she still kept staring at Root. The human pushed her back another three feet quickly, then said, "okay, now I suppose you now the actual reason why you cannot have her body. But you will tell the people in Haven what I told you before, not a squeak more. And I will find out if you do, so be careful, unless you want Holly to get it."

He drew a line against her throat with his pointer finger, and Holly's eyes widened. She didn't dare move though, other than to force herself to swallow with her suddenly dry throat. Her eyes stayed locked on Julius.

"Fine," the male elf said, raising his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Not a soul. Don't harm her, though. She hasn't done anything. I'm leaving now, before this gets out of hand." He spared one last sad glance at Holly. "Take care, Captain." She flinched at the use of her former title, but other than that didn't react. Then the commander turned and flew away, feeling extremely relieved, yet at the same time, very worried.

Artemis closed the door after The Commader, exhaling deeply. Then, at the same time, Holly and his eyes flicked to each other's faces, and they locked eyes briefly.

"Holly," Artemis began softly, in a soothing tone, but she shook her head, backing up, away from him, her chest heaving in panic and the huge breaths she was taking as she fought to control herself. Then she turned and took off full speed down the hallway.

She didn't stop running until she reached her room, where she ran in and locked the door and didn't come out for the rest of the night.

**Review! 575!**


	31. The Siege Has Just Begun

Once Holly was in her room, she sat in her bed and stared into space. She heard the soft knocks on her door, but didn't want anyone to bother her so she locked it before on her way in.

She sat there, and sat there. She didn't even feel the tears stream down her cheeks as the morning Sun came through the window, illuminating the darkness around her.

She was so close. So close to her old life. So close to being normal again. It was literally right in her arms. Her hand went to her throat.

It was all so close. Yet so far away.

And it was all Artemis's fault! Why couldn't he have let her go? She was discovered, it's not like nobody knows she wasn't alive anymore. She had thought that Artemis was finally becoming an actual human being with feelings. That they were finally becoming friends.

But that isn't the case. In his mind, she would always be a hostage. She shook her head, the thought tumbling through her mind as she wiped her eyes.

Soon when the rays of sunshine flooded her room. She sighed, her tired body aching as she laid down and shut her eyes.

Holly was close to sleep when she once again heard on knock on the door. She rolled her eyes and scoffed. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She didn't even glance at the door, never mind to go and unlock it.

But soon she heard the door open and turned around to see Artemis in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest.

"Holly..." He said walking up to her. But she moved back, shaking her head and giving him a disgusted look.

"How did you get in here?" She whispered.

Artemis shook his head and chuckled. "It's astonishing as how you have been here for so long, but you still doubt me." Artemis paused, "I have a key."

"You think this is just so funny don't you?" Holly spat. "Like I'm just some kind of entertainment to you. Like someone to laugh at. Well NewsFlash Fowl, I may not be human, but I have feelings. And for you to pretend to be my friend for one minute, but then turn around and threaten me. No wonder why I...was suicidal."

"Holly, you don't understand-"

"I understand perfectly Artemis!" Holly interrupted, her voice rising a bit. "You messed with me until I was broken, and now that I'm fixed you want to break me again!"

"It's not like that!" Artemis argued.

"Then why couldn't you let me go?!" She demanded.

Artemis sighed, "Because, that would be weak. That would let the people win."

"The siege over Fowl." Holly growled.

Artemis shook his head and turned around, heading for the door. But before he left, he looked back, looking at Holly with sad eyes. They were full of regret and guilt as he looked her over and said, "No...it's just begun."

And with that he left, leaving Holly to stand there, shocked.

Holly finally regained herself to go and sit on the green sheets of her bed. She thought about what Artemis said.

The Siege was over. The People couldn't get involved with Fowl anymore. Even for Commader Root to come over last night was most likely not authorized and an illegal visitation. And Artemis knew that so...

What Siege did he mean?

Artemis closed the door behind him and sighed quietly. He walked to his study thinking about what he said to Holly right before he left. It was true. It had just started.

He sat down, letting out a deep breath he didn't know he had been holding. He sat there, in his chair, and stared at the red wall. He pondered about what Holly said.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to threaten her, but it got the point across. Now it was all up to the Commander and that mouth of his. Or more importantly Foaly's. Artemis sighed again and shook his head in defeat, that centaur couldn't keep his mouth shut, and Artemis knew that from only a few minutes of talking to him.

If the word got out about Holly being alive, Artemis didn't know what he would do. Would he have to kill her? Would that really be the best option?

Artemis fought the urge to roll his eyes, something that rarely happened until Holly came along.

The one thing that really stuck to Artemis was one thing.

Holly was right, she would always be a hostage. The decision was finally made.

**Ok, so 600 GO! **

**To clear some stuff up, the definition of Siege is a person trying to make a armed person to surrender...**

**Or a long period of misfortune...**

***shrugs* Either way, you put it into context.**


	32. One Way or Another

**Ok, so since I'm kind of busy with my 13 Days Of Halloween. But, it will be done by October 31st! Not BATB, 13 Days...there is still alot to go through with BATB.**

Holly sat in the bed for quite some time after Artemis left, pushing all thoughts of everything to do with him and what he'd done and said from her mind. She had a very hard time doing so, and ended up pacing the length of the bed rapidly. She was just too restless to sit still.

Suddenly, she felt the need to escape, even stronger than ever. And since she couldn't leave the manor...

She bolted for the closet, throwing the door open and rushing in, ducking in the hole that led to the tunnels, and took off running.

Meanwhile, Artemis sat in his study, unaware of Holly's actions. He was at his computer, trying to hack into Foaly's security systems, and get far enough he could get some information on Holly. He decided finding out a little more abou her past couldn't hurt, and would probably be a good idea to figure out how to deal properly with her.

Foaly sure has a lot of security measures in place, Artemis thought. But then he smiled. Of course he did. He was a genius, after all. And Artemis would enjoy the challenge, and the distraction of breaking them down, slowly, one by one.

It took several hours, even with Artemis's intelligence, mostly because this was the first time he'd ever tried to do something of this magnitude. Next time would be easier.

Of course, the issue with this was, though Artemis didn't know it, was that while he was on the computer, Holly was roaming the tunnels alone, and with him busy and unknowing, every second he spent on the computer gave her another second to roam. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing, of she actually remember how to properly navigate it. It had been a while, and she wasn't sure whether she could keep herself from getting lost or not, but at this point, she also didn't care.

Holly was in the tunnels for about two hours, roaming and wandering around aimlessly. But she was enjoying the solitude, so she stayed.

Eventually, her legs tired. But instead of heading back to her bedroom, she just sat down where she was, crossing her legs and leaning back against the hard wall. It was cool, and it felt good against her burning skin. She slid down it, crawling over nearby to a big rock, and laid down on it, resting her head on her arms. And soon, despite the hard surroundings, she was surprisingly comfortable, and she fell asleep.

Artemis, by this time, was already finishing up his hacking. Just as Holly dozed off into the realm of sleep, he was finally breaking into Foaly's computer systems and beginning to search for her file.

It didn't take long; there was only one Holly Short in the whole Lower Elements, let alone in the LEP. He had found and downloaded the whole file in under an hour. Which was a good thing, because soon after Foaly's systems booted him out.

Then he printed it out and started reading.

The file was far more detailed than he expected, which meant it was longer. It covered everything from her date of birth, up to her tragic "death" a while back. And it even covered the insignificant details, too, which he thought was a bit much, but was still grateful for anyways.

Since the file was so long, it took long than expected to read it. He had planned to check on Holly afterwards, but he didn't have to, as it turned out.

Holly woke up not long after she fell asleep. Still tired and extremely groggy, she stood and stumbled back in the general direction she thought her bedroom was in.

She was headed towards a bedroom, but not her own.

Tired and still bleary eyed, Holly stumbled through the tunnels and, unknowingly, into Artemis's room.

The boy jumped up when he heard the footsteps in his adjoining bedroom, bursting in to see Holly staring at him with unfocused eyes. "Holly?" he asked, worried, pushing her down on the bed.

"Dang it," the elf muttered. "Wrong room."

Artemis caught on immediately. "You were in the tunnels." She nodded. "Why?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to somewhere, I guess. I couldn't think of any other place to go."

He nodded, studying her face carefully. "Holly... Did you fall asleep in the tunnels?" She nodded again. "Oh, geez. I don't even want to know how."

She smirked. "I have talent, that's how. It's LEP training. Now, I'm going back to my room."

She started to stand, but Artemis grabbed her arm. "No. I'm not letting you go so you can run through the tunnels again." He nodded at the bed. "Lay down in here."

She made a face. "But-"

"But nothing. You. Will. Lay. Down," Artemis ordered, looking her straight in the eyes. Holly cursed quietly and laid down on the bed.

"There. Happy? Now go back to whatever you were doing," she muttered. She rolled up in the blankets and turned over on her side, away from him.

"Actually, I was just about to come looking for you. There's some things I thought we should talk about."

"Like what?" she asked without looking up.

"Like, why didn't you ever tell me your birthday was in three days?"

Her jaw went slack. "How did you find that out?"

"I have my sources. Now, why didn't you?"

"I didn't want my birthday celebrated. I hate it. And I certainly don't want anything you humans would get me, if anything..."

"Oh, well, okay then. Guess I'll just have to give you your present another time."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Like I care."

Artemis arched his brow, but didn't say anything, just shook his head.

He started to stand up, but Holly started to get up as well. "Holly, stay here. Try and get some sleep.

Holly didn't get up, but she didn't lay down either. Only the first part was a command. "Artemis...just don't."

"Don't what?" He asked.

"Don't think that this changes anything." Holly responded.

"We'll see. Now, lay down and get some rest. I have work to finish." He turned and walked away, but paused in the door. "Rest well, Holly." She nodded and immediately laid down, closing her eyes, and Artemis turned and headed back into his study, feeling satisfied with the small spark of hope he'd acquired when he thought about her gift. He smiled inwardly. It wouldn't take long to get he to come back around now, despite anything she said.

He'd get her trust back, one way or another.

**625 GO!**


	33. Icy Cold Yet Again

_**IMPORTANT A/N**_

**Ok, so...if you have been reading the reviews, I have been having some issues with a certain reviewer who is personally attacking me. I don't usually take these things to heart, but this one person is different. This person is ATTACKING ME. **

**There is only one thing I want to say to this person: MY DOG CAN ****_SPELL_**** BETTER THAN YOU! **

**And it is a guest, so I suppose I can take it down, but for you to understand why is said that in the previous paragraph, I'm leaving it up.**

**So anyway, I have one more message. And this one goes out to Ru Dorogan...: TRUST ME! **

**Let's get on our way, shall we?**

The next three days went by slowly. Juliet kept on squealing about Valentine's day, so Artemis didn't think it was best to tell her that Holly's birthday was on the same day.

Holly mostly spent those three days in her room after she woke up. She went to the tunnel door in her room and found that it was locked. She rolled her eyes and went by the window, seeing the snow fall onto the ground.

Artemis explained his plan to Butler, and he readily agreed, glad that Artemis was actually going to do this.

Then the plan went into action.

The morning of Valentine's Day, Butler went into Holly's room to find her sound asleep. He smiled a bit, but it quickly went away when he remembered his instructions.

When Butler sat on the edge of the bed, Holly was immediately awake. Her eyes were wide, and her breath hitched until she realized that it was just Butler.

.n c.f. McFadden cc Xbox,...I

"Don't say it, Butler." She muttered, burying her head into the pillows.

"Say what?" He asked, playing his part to be surprised over what she was saying.

"Oh, yeah right. Like Artemis hasn't told you." Her voice was muffled a bit.

"Artemis hasn't told me anything Holly." He said, feeling guilty about lying.

She lifted herself from the pillows, turning over to look at the manservant. "H-he hasn't?" She asked curiously.

Butler shook his head.

"Hmpf. Maybe it is possible to trust him with a secret after all."

"Holly, what are you talking about?" He asked, eyebrow raised. "What secret?"

"Oh, nothing," Holly said with a wave of her hand. "Now, not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?"

Butler shook his head and chuckled, "I can't just come in for a normal conversation?"

"Nope. Usually there's something behind all these talks." She narrowed her eyes, "Artemis sent you, didn't he?"

"No. I just thought you might be cold today, so I brought you these." He held up Brown sweat pants and a dark green sweat shirt.

"Oh, umm thanks." Holly blushed, embarrassed she was so rude to him.

"No problem. Do you want anything to eat? You haven't eaten since-"

"Since Root was here, I know. I just don't want to run into Artemis."

Butler nodded like he understood perfectly. "I could bring it up here, if you want me too."

Holly nodded distracted. She had to admit, it was colder than it had ever been. She had been here since the week of Christmas, making it probably more than two months since she had been held here.

"Holly? Hello? Earth to Holly!" He said, waving his hand in front of her face. She blinked a few times, shocked.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking."

Butler nodded, his eyebrows raised and his mouth a grim slash. He then smiled and shook his head, chuckling. "I'll be right back with breakfast."

Holly nodded, and Butler got up and exited the room. Holly stared at the clothes that he left for a minute before shrugging and putting them on.

Butler went down the stairs, turning to the kitchen to where Artemis was waiting. "Well?" The teenager asked.

Butler nodded, "She bought it."

Artemis smirked, "Good. And she doesn't suspect a thing?"

"No sir." Butler replied.

"Excellent..." He trailed off, heading to the counter where Butler had set the food he knew Holly would want before he went up to her room.

"Are you sure this is the nest idea sir?"

Artemis turned and looked at him, a vampire smirk forming on his face. "If we were to do this without this exact part of the plan, someone could get hurt by her. I can't risk that."

"Yes sir." Butler replied, turning around and going back to Holly's room with her food. He knocked to make sure she was dressed, and when she said it was ok, he entered the room.

Holly was sitting at the window, staring out it and into the falling snow.

Butler went to her and handed over the plate. She sat it next to her, and looked up at him, smiling.

"Well, I better leave you to that. You know where to find me." Butler said, smiling back.

Holly nodded silently and Butler left the room.

Artemis was waiting in the hallway, and he immediately knew something was wrong when he looked at Butler's face.

"What happened." He stated, not even bothering to put it in question form, because he knew something was off.

"She was staring out that window again. I thought you said she was over that."

Artemis walked to the left, going to his study. He motioned for Butler to follow him. When they reached it, the genius closed the door and turned to Butler.

"I didn't want Holly to overhear us. Our conversation out in the hall had enough information for her to catch on to us."

Butler nodded, and Artemis reentered their conversation about the window.

"As for your concern about Holly, tonight will remedy that."

Butler nodded, "What if you are wrong, and Holly still wants to hurt herself after everything."

Artemis gave him a skeptical look, "When have I been wrong?"

Butler chuckled, "When it comes between you and and a certain elf, anything is possible."

Artemis gave a heart-piercing glare to Butler before the manservant shook his head.

"May I go sir?" He asked.

"Of course." Artemis replied, gesturing to the door.

Night came, and all Holly did was sit by her window. She wasn't visited again after Butler left with the food, but Holly ate it anyway.

An hour after she ate, her stomach started to hurt, after a while it went away, only to be replaced by a headache.

She looked back at the bowl, could there be meat in oatmeal? Did Butler put egg or wine in it? Holly shook her head, he wouldn't do that to her, he knew better.

Holly got up, ready to go and see if Butler or even- Frond forbid -Artemis could do something. But she suddenly felt dizzy. So dizzy and woozy that instead of going to the door, she went back to bed. The last thing Holly saw before slipping into unconsciousness was the Sun setting from her window.

When Holly came to, she wasn't in her bedroom. At least she didn't think she was, She couldn't see a thing from a blindfold being tightly tied over her eyes. She tried to take it off, but couldn't move her hands from behind her back.

She struggled, her breathing becoming faster as she did so. She could feel that she was lying on something hard, but she couldn't see anything still. Then she heard a voice in front of her, so close she could feel the breath on her face.

"Hello Holly." An icy voice told her.

"Artemis? Wh-what's going on?"

"What do you think is going on?"

Holly's words came out short and gasped as she replied, "You're not going to torture me again, are you?

She felt hands on her arms as he pulled her up, making her sit up. Then she felt lips by her ear, "You'll see."

Then her blindfold shifted, leaving her eyes to hang around her neck. Holly gasped.

The sight was magnificent, Artemis was sitting beside her and there were snow topped hedges on both sides of them as they sat on a bench facing the horizon.

"Happy Birthday." Artemis said.

"Wow." Holly breathed. She breathed in the cold afternoon air. She managed to stand up with her hand tied behind her back and took a few steps through the snow before turning to Artemis.

"Why did you drug me?" She said, anger rising as she realized the fact it was him who knocked her out in the first place.

Artemis sighed, and gestured to the scene around them, "This was suppose to be a surprise. I didn't think you would let me blindfold you without you breaking something...or someone."

"Well what ever you did, you made me sick Artemis."

The genius looked down, "I apologize for that. It was my own concoction. The poison is Suppose to leave no traces except make you drowsy, making the victim unconscious for a maximum of ten minutes."

Holly shook her head in disgust.

"It might have made you sick because I haven't tested it on any fairies lately." He paused, "Either way...I feel as though I should make it up to you."

He walked up to her so he was standing behind Holly, and again, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her neck.

Then she heard a click. A very familiar click. The pocket knife he always carried with him. She gasped and tried to move away from him, but he grabbed her arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked, pulling her back to him.

Holly laughed bitterly, her eyes widened with fear. "So this was your plan all along? To give me what I want most and then kill me? That's low, even for you."

Holly looked back to see a confused look set upon Artemis's face. "What? No! Of course I'm not going to kill you! You didn't even do anything! No! I was just going to untie you." He cut the ropes on her hands. "See?"

Holly turned around to face him, rubbing her wrists. She was surprised that Artemis actually trusted her to not run away. But in truth, Butler was on top of Fowl manor with a sniper gun filled with knockout darts trained on them."Oh, ummm...thanks."

"Yes." He said, laying a hand in her shoulder. "You're freezing Holly!" He said, taking his hand back and unbuttoning his jacket. "

He scoffed, "I guess I wasn't thinking, not bringing a coat out for you. Why didn't you tell me?" He held out the jacket.

Holly eyed it skeptically, shaking her head.

"Holly, you are going to freeze." Artemis chided. She just shrugged and looked around.

Artemis sighed and draped it around her her shoulders nonetheless. She depose for a,second unsure if she should take it off or not, but decided not to due to the fact that the sweat shirt and pants weren't enough to keep the cold air out. "Are you sure? It's freezing out here."

Artemis just shrugged. "I'm Irish."

Holly let her hardened composure slip and felt a small smile form across her face. They both went back to the branch and sat there for a while, looking out into the sunset. But soon, the sun disappeared, and The night returned. The couple just sat there, not saying anything. That was until Artemis broke the silence.

"Happy Birthday." He said, for the second time that day.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Holly said sarcastically.

That was when Holly felt her hand wrapped in something warm. "Yes, Yes it is." She looked down to see him holding her hand and back up to see Artemis looking at her.

She gazed into his eyes, and only saw happiness She looked into his smile and only saw warmth. She looked into his soul and only saw hope.

"I think I'm too young to feel this way Holly, but I do. And I know that I'm too young to do what I'm about to do, but I'm going to do it."

Holly just sat there and stared at him as he bent his head down slowly, his face getting closer and closer to hers. The elf's brain told her that this,was wrong, that he was too young and that she was too old. But her heart told her otherwise.

They were only millimeters apart, their breaths beginning to get faster and faster as they knew what was approaching and then Artemis knew he had to close that gap. He closed his eyes and-

"What in Fronds name do you think you are doing mud boy?!" He heard a shout come from in front of them.

Artemis sighed as he pulled away from Holly, looking up to see a very red faced and angry little man.

**So, anyway...hope you liked it! And I know it's alot to ask, but 650? I have my Halloween special out and I only have half of it done...I HATE DUE DATES! **


	34. What's Wrong with Me?

In an instant, Artemis jumped back and pushed Holly over, putting them about three feet apart. Holly felt Artemis's cold demeanor start to return, and she sighed.

Artemis got up and began walking over to the elfin man, taking Holly with him, until he was a few feet away from him. His face was back to that stony, emotionless look, but he never let go off her hand.

"What are you doing here, Julius?" he demanded icily.

"What were you doing with my captain, Fowl?"

"I asked first. And it doesn't matter anyways." He leaned in closer to the commander. "I can do whatever I want with her. I own her."

Holly gasped, staring up the human next to her in shock. "You wouldn't…"

"Quiet," he hissed. Artemis turned back to Julius. "Answer me. Why. Are. You. On. My. Property?"

"I came to see Captain Short."

"First of all, she is not a captain anymore. She is no longer in services to the LEP. And second, I don't ever recall telling you that I would allow that."

"That's because you didn't. I didn't ask your permission, Fowl," he growled. "I need to talk to her."

Artemis glared at him for a minute. He glared back. Frowning, he pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a few deep breaths, and glanced down at Holly. Instead of glaring, she was watching the exchange with wide, hopeful eyes. When Artemis looked at her, she looked up at him too, silently pleading with her eyes. He sighed, giving in this time. "Fine. Ten minutes," he said stiffly. Then he turned on his heel and walked a few feet away, giving them some amount of privacy.

Once again, the first thing Holly did was throw her arms around her commander, practically tackling him. "Commander Root," she breathed.

"Holly," he greeted. "It's good to see you too. Now get off!"

She did, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry. It's just… seeing another fairy… after so long. It feels good."

"I'm sure it does. Now, to business. We need to talk." He took a breath. "I need your help."

"Me?" Holly said. "Why? With what?"

"On a case," Root said. "I need your help. I think you-"

"Why?" she pressed. "Since when does my opinion count for so much? Back when I still worked in the office, in recon, I would have been the person you came to, if at all. Remember, I'm a girl."

"I know. I discounted your intelligence because of your gender before. But-"

"You and all of the other sexist males I worked with," Holly muttered.

"I know, I know! Can you let me finish?" She nodded. "I need you to come back to Haven and help me on the case."

Holly hesitated. "I would… I want to. But I have orders." Her eyes flicked to Artemis.

"I can change that." He turned to the human in question. "Fowl!"

Artemis turned, opening his mouth to say something, but Root cut him off. Layering his voice with the hypnotic mesmer, he intoned, "human. You will release all orders placed on Holly."

There was a brief moment there, when nothing was said, and in that brief moment Holly and Root both thought it worked. Then Artemis smirked. "Nice try. My eyes are protected by reflective contacts. I am not an idiot, contrary to what you might believe."

"D'Arvit!" Root swore. "What is with you? Why can't you just let her go?"

Unknowingly, he had just voiced the question that had kept Holly wondering the whole time she had been there. And, hopeful of finally getting an answer, she turned when Root asked it.

Artemis sighed. "I cannot let her go. Not without the payment. Why can't you all just be happy I let her live?" He went and sat back down on the bench, his head falling into his hands as he started rubbing his temples. "Why can't that just be enough?"

"Because it can't! Holly is young, she has to much potential to sit an waste away here! She needs her freedom!" Root exclaimed, his face already taking on that familiar red hue.

Holly just stood there, shocked into silence. Then she came out of it. "Wait, Commander, Artemis, it-"

She was cut off as Artemis surged to his feet, towering over the male elf. "I know she does! And I've tried! I've given her as much as I can! I have given her as much freedom as I could without putting her in danger. I have given her everything that I could. I let her live, I took her to perform the ritual, I-"

"You never took me to perform the ritual," Holly interrupted. "Otherwise I would have magic left."

He sneered at her. "You do have magic, Holly. Maybe not magic from when you first got here, but you have magic in your body."

"No I don't! I think I would know if I had magic in my system, Artemis."

"Obviously not," he snapped. They glared at each other for a second, then he growled lowly, snatching her by the arm. Then he drew his knife.

Root tried to stop him. "Fowl, don't be rash, she-"

"Quiet." he ordered, throwing him a cold glance. He pulled Holly around with him and pushed her down on the bench, then fought to straighten her arm. "Stop struggling," he whispered, so only she could hear. "Otherwise I could end up seriously hurting you."

Holly's struggles ceased, but she didn't stop protesting. "Then don't!"

He didn't bother with an answer, paying neither of them any mind as they continued to both protest. He yanked up her long sleeve and made a long cut down her forearm.

Holly yelped. She tried to pull away from him. "Let go! You've done it, now stop squeezing my arm!"

He did, though reluctantly. "Watch," he insisted.

Sure enough, blue sparks flitted out of the wound, healing it slowly. "Wow, sure looks like magic to me," Artemis said, his tone sarcastic. Holly gasped in surprise.

"H- how? You never even let me out of the manor before this!"

"Yes I did! You just didn't know it, because you were still unconscious and bleeding out everywhere! You were still half-dead from trying to kill yourself! And I'm not as stupid as you think, Holly, I knew the only way to save you was to take you out." His voice lowered a bit at the end.

"Wait, you did what?" Root demanded, turning and looking at Holly. "Is that true?"

"Yes, it is!" Artemis answered before she could. "And she did it of her own free will! She purposely tried to kill herself! I have a feeling it was because of me, too, though I'm no quite sure what I could have done to-"

"You don't know what you did!" Holly exclaimed. "You are such a bad freaking liar, Artemis Fowl! What do you think it was that you did? Hmm? And it is what you did, not what you could have done, because that would be wrong. You did do things to me. Or did you forget about the fact that you took away my life, that you tortured me, that you yelled at me to go rot in the basement, and everything else?"

"I only did those things because you deserved them!" he shot back at her.

"How would you know that I deserved to have everything taken from me? What would have made you think that? Hmm? You didn't even know me when you were making that part of your cruel little plan up!"

"Okay, so not that part. But everything else you did deserve! You disobeyed direct orders, doing things I told you specifically not to do, and you provoked me with the basement comment. You provoked me when you were slapped, too," Artemis continued. "And you admitted to that, so you can't even try to lie about it."

"I wasn't going to."

"Good." He paused. "You needed those punishments. You deserved them. And if you keep it up, perhaps you will get more." He snarled slightly. "You know, I cannot believe I just was going to kiss you. I cannot believe I also thought I had feelings for you. And I especially can't believe that you would return them."

"Me either," Holly said, agreeing with him for the first time in several minutes.

"Aww, look, we're actually agreeing," he said sarcastically.

"Yeah. Probably one of the only things we still do agree on."

"And I have another. That this conversation is over." As his voice rang out around them, it carried, and Butler could hear it from on the roof. He immediately turned and went to the edge of the roof, drawing out his sniper gun from its large holster as Artemis watched.

Holly followed his eyes, and her own widened as they saw where he was looking, who he was communicating with, and as they took in the gun in his hand.

She watched for a few more second as he lifted it and took careful aim, but not at her.

"Commander, what did you need Holly for again?" Artemis asked, his voice, I possible, even colder and harder than before.

Julius, still a little shell-shocked from the conversation a few minutes before, took a few moments to answer. "A case," he finally said, quietly.

"Fine. In that case-" Artemis began to concede, but was cut short by Holly.

"No! He's distracting you, Commander! Look out!" And then, just as Butler let loose a dart, the commander turned, so it was aimed directly for his chest. His eyes didn't even have time to widen, before Holly, thinking it was a bullet and not realizing that it was just a tranquilizer dart, screamed and ran into her former boss, knocking him down, but taking the dart to the side of the neck in the process.

Artemis's anger evaporated instantly. "Holly!" He dropped down beside the elf, catching her as she swayed and fell, and laying her across his knees. He gently extracted the dart from her neck.

"Holly. It was only tranquilizer, you know."

"Now I do. I thought… it was actual bullets," she breathed. It took her a minute, for as the tranquilizer started kicking into her system, she kept losing her thought process.

"No. I wouldn't do that." He stroked her hair back off her face and sighed. I am going to regret this, he thought, but he said it anyways. "Look at me." She did, meeting his deep, focused blue eyes with her unsteady, cloudy hazel ones. "I free you to go with your commander back to Haven, Holly. But, when you have finished completely with the case he needs your help with, you must return. When the case is closed, you have to come back here. Understand?"

She nodded. Artemis looked at the surprised face of Root. "You got that too?"

"Yes," he agreed. "I'll make sure she comes back."

"Good." As the human spoke, his hand slid into hers, squeezing it gently. She was slowly drifting away. He lifted her, and she murmured something incomprehensible into his chest. He just shook his head sadly as he handed her to Root. "It's settled then," he sighed. "Take her now, but remember to bring her back when it's over. Otherwise, I will have to come back for her myself, and it won't be a pretty scene then."

The commander nodded. "Understood."

"Good. Glad we understand each other." Then Artemis leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Goodbye, Holly," he murmured into her hair. Then he pulled back. "Go," he said to Root.

And so they did. As Artemis watched them fly away, he sighed again. But before he went in the house, he whispered one last thing to the open air.

"What's wrong with me?"

**680...**


End file.
